You are on page 1of 74

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON SLUM STATISTICS/CENSUS

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF HOUSING AND URBAN POVERTY ALLEVIATION
NATIONAL BUILDINGS ORGANISATION
NEW DELHI
PREFACE

The Millennium Declaration of the United Nations, to which India is a


signatory, specifically recognizes the need to improve the lives of slum dwellers. The
existence and proliferation of slums is especially acute in developing countries as the
pace of urbanization accelerates, and India is no exception. Recognising the gravity
of the issue, and our commitments to both our own people and the global community,
the Government of India has launched a major programme for improvement of the
lives of slum dwellers. However, it has been found that the design of this programme
is severely constrained by the paucity of data, not only regarding the living conditions
in Indian slums, but indeed even the magnitude and dispersion of the slum
population. As a consequence of this recognition, a Committee on Slum
Statistics/Census was constituted by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty
Alleviation under my chairmanship to look into various aspects of Slum
Statistics/Census and issues regarding the conduct of Slum Census 2011.

The Committee held four meetings and one special meeting was convened by
the Hon’ble Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation. This report is the
outcome of these deliberations, and the studies that were commissioned to fill our
knowledge gaps. It cannot be claimed that this report in any manner represents the
final word on the subject. The dynamics of urbanization and migration in a large and
rapidly growing country like India are too complex to be easily captured. The best we
can hope to do is to bring about incremental improvements in our knowledge and
understanding through the existing administrative systems and statistical activities. In
the longer run it is hoped that as our understanding improves, we will be able to
evolve more appropriate data capture methodologies and more efficient statistical
techniques to obtain more accurate estimates with greater frequency than is possible
at present.

The Committee commissioned the Indian Agricultural Statistics Research


Institute (IASRI), a leading statistical research institute in the country to carry out an
estimation exercise using the latest statistical techniques to fill the information gaps
that exist at present. Chapter III of this Report is based mainly on their contribution.
We are deeply grateful to IASRI for having undertaken this exercise at short notice
and doing a commendable job.

The Committee wishes to place on record its appreciation of its members for
the keen interest shown and for the help rendered by them in deliberations and
putting forward their ideas before the Committee. It also places on record its
appreciation for the valuable services provided by Shri D.S.Negi, Director (NBO), Shri
Avanish Kr. Mishra, Deputy Director (NBO) and Shri V. Ethiraj, Research Officer,
NBO in preparation of background papers needed for effective deliberations of the
committee. Last but not the least, we wish to place on record our deep appreciation
of the interest and commitment of the Hon’ble Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty
alleviation, who encouraged us at every step.

(Dr. Pronab Sen)

New Delhi
Dated: August 23, 2010
CONTENTS

Topic Page No.


Chapter

Introduction
I

II Background & Objective

III Estimating Slum Population

IV Conducting Slum Census

V Towards an Urban Information Management System

VI Recommendations

VII Annexure-I: Notification

Annexure-II: Minutes of First Meeting of the


Committee

Annexure-III: Minutes of Second Meeting of the


Committee

Annexure- IV: Minutes of Third Meeting of the


Committee

Annexure-V: Minutes of the Meeting chaired by


Hon’ble Minister of Housing and Urban
Poverty Alleviation
CHAPTER – I

INTRODUCTION

Increasing urbanization is emerging as the most pervasive and dominant challenge


for our country. Urban population in India has grown from 78.9 million in 1961 to 286
million in 2001 and the same is estimated to be doubled in next 25 years. Cities and
towns are centres of agglomeration economies, investments, technology, innovation,
economic growth and tertiary jobs. Their contribution to countries’ GDP is immense.
They are reservoirs of skills, capital and knowledge. They are the centres of
innovation and creativity. They are the generators of resources for the national and
state exchequers. They are also the hopes of millions of migrants from the rural
hinterland and smaller settlements. With growth of the service sector and surge of
the knowledge economy, the population pressure on cities is bound to escalate.
They are increasingly faced with negative consequences such as polarization of
population in large cities, high density, slums and squatter settlements, acute
shortage of housing and basic civic amenities, degradation of environment, traffic
congestion, pollution, poverty, unemployment, crime and social unrest.

An estimated 25% of urban population (810 lakh in 2001) still subsists on incomes
that are below the poverty line. Eighty percent of their meager earnings go towards
food and energy, leaving very little for meeting the costs of living in an increasingly
monetized society. The majority of them live in slums and squatter settlements, in
inhuman conditions that deny them dignity, shelter, security, and the right to basic
civic amenities or social services, in an environment in which crime, ill-health and
disease frequently raise demands that draws them deeper into vulnerability and
poverty. Urbanization accompanied by sustained population growth due to large
scale migration from rural economy to urban centers leads to mushrooming slum
settlements in all cities and towns in India.

As urbanization grows, and the projected share of urban households rises in the next
two decades from the current 28% to 50% of the country’s population, we may
expect that slums will tend to grow even faster. This is a corollary of urbanization in
developing countries. Unless this possibility is consciously taken note of, and
corrective action initiated early, it could lead to serious crippling of the productive
capacities of a growing number of people by the denial of basic services, shelter and
security, increasing inequity and retarding the GDP potential of urban areas. Given
the relentless growth of urban population and the difficult economic environment for
the poor, the housing problem will further worsen unless concerted measures are
taken to ameliorate the living conditions of vast majority of vulnerable sections of the
society i.e. the slum dwellers/urban poor.

As the current pace of urbanization is bound to accelerate due to the factors of rural-
urban migration and in-situ population growth, we need to put our minds together to
find meaningful solutions to these problems. If urbanization has to act as a positive
force in economic development, we should avoid the past mistakes and aim at an
urban and regional planning system that is inclusive and does not exclude the poor
and the informal sector. For considerations of social and economic growth, and the
Constitutional mandate, it is necessary to break away from past trends and practices
and to take decisive action for inclusive urban development that acknowledges the
presence of the poor in cities, recognizes their contribution as essential to the city’s
functioning, and redresses the fundamental reasons for inequity that ties them down
to poverty.

Comprehensive information/data on the slums is essential for formulation of an


effective and coordinated policy for improvement/rehabilitation of the slum dwellers
in the country.

1.1 Slum Definition

I. The Encyclopedia Britannica defines slums as "... residential areas that are
physically and socially deteriorated and in which satisfactory family life is impossible.
Bad housing is a major index of slum conditions. By bad housing is meant dwellings
that have inadequate light, air, toilet and bathing facilities; that are in bad repair,
dump and improperly heated; that do not afford opportunity for family privacy; that
are subject to fire hazard and that overcrowd the land, leaving no space for
recreational use.

II. Registrar General of India has adopted the following definition for the
purpose of Census of India. 2001, the slum areas broadly constitute of:
 All specified areas in a town or city notified as 'Slum' by State/Local
Government and UT Administration under any Act including a 'Slum Act'.
 All areas recognized as 'Slum' by State/Local Government and UT
Administration. Housing and Slum Boards, which may have not been formally
notified as slum under any act
 A compact area of at least 300 populations or about 60-70 households of
poorly built congested tenements, in unhygienic environment usually with
inadequate infrastructure and lacking in proper sanitary and drinking water
facilities.

III. The NSSO, for the purpose of survey in 1976-77 defined slum as declared
and undeclared slums. The declared slums were areas which have been formally
declared as slum by the respective municipalities, corporations, local bodies or the
development authorities. The undeclared slums were defined as “an aerial unit
having twenty five or more katcha structures mostly of temporary nature, or inhabited
by persons with practically no private latrine and inadequate public latrine and water

IV. For the purpose of the survey in 1993 and 2002, NSSO adopted the
definition of slums as “A slum is a compact settlement with a collection of poorly
built tenements, mostly of temporary nature, crowded together usually with
inadequate sanitary and drinking water facilities in unhygienic conditions. Such an
area, for the purpose of this survey, was considered as “non notified slum” if at
least 20 households lived in that area. Areas notified as slums by the respective
municipalities, corporations, local bodies or development authorities are treated as
“notified slums”.

V. UN-HABITAT defines “A slum is a contiguous settlement where the


inhabitants are characterized as having inadequate housing and basic services. A
slum is often not recognized and addressed by the public authorities as an integral or
equal part of the city.”
Slum households as a group of individuals living under the same roof that lack one
or more of the conditions listed below:
i. Insecure residential status;
ii. Inadequate access to safe water;
iii. Inadequate access to sanitation and other infrastructure;
iv. Poor structural quality of housing;
v. Overcrowding.

1.2 Slum Definition Adopted By State Governments

The definition of slum area adopted by the State Governments is based on Slum
Acts of the respective States i.e. based on legal stipulations unlike the definitions
adopted by RGI and NSSO. The concept, perception and definition of slums vary
across the states, depending on their socio-economic conditions but their physical
characteristics are almost similar. Slums are usually a cluster of hutments with
dilapidated and infirm structures having common toilet facilities, suffering from lack of
basic amenities, inadequate arrangements for drainage and for disposal of solid
waste and garbage. There are discrepancies between the parameters adopted by
State Governments, RGI and NSSO. Generally the State laws provide for a
procedure to ‘notify’ or ‘recognize’ slums but the stipulation regarding the number of
households in the definition of slums, which is part of the Census and NSSO
definitions, is absent in the definitions adopted by State laws which do not place a
limit on the number of households for the purpose of identifying a slum.

I. Andhra Pradesh
a) The Definition of Notified Slum Area as provided in "Andhra Pradesh Slum
Improvement (Acquisition of Land) Act, 1956. Act. No. XXXIII of 1956" is "Where the
government are satisfied that any area is or may be a source of danger to the public
health, safety or convenience of its neighborhood by reason of the area being low
lying, insanitary, squalid, or otherwise, they may by notification in the Andhra
Pradesh gazette declare such area to be a slum area.”
b) The Slum areas recognized by Local Governments (ULBs) but not notified by the
State Government as above are "Non-notified Slum areas".

II. Madhya Pradesh


Slums are defined as per the Clause 3 given in the Madhya Pradesh Gandi Basti
Kshetra (Sudhar thatha Nirmulan) Adhiniyam, 1976 which states that:

"Where the Competent Authority upon report from any of its officers or other
information in its possession is satisfied in respect of any area that the buildings in
that area-
-are in any respect unfit for human habitation; or
-area by reason of dilapidation, overcrowding, faulty arrangement and design of such
buildings. hazardous and unwholesome trade carried on therein, narrowness and
faulty arrangement of streets, lack of ventilation, light or sanitation facilities, or any
combination of these factors, are detrimental to safety, health or morals,

it may, by notification, declare such area to be a slum area."

Under the DFID assisted Project UTTHAN (Madhya Pradesh Urban Services for the
Poor the state is in the process of developing slum notification guidelines. The
guidelines are based on the above mentioned act and also the definition of slum as
defined in the Census of India for the purpose of the 2001 census which defines
slum as a compact area of at least 300 population or about 60-70 households of
poorly built congested tenements, in unhygienic environment usually with inadequate
infrastructure and lacking in proper sanitary and drinking water facilities.

III. Haryana
Govt. of Haryana had issued a notification on 16.4,1990 for constitution of Haryana
Slum Clearance Board and adopted the Punjab Slum Areas (improvement and
clearance Act 1961) As per section 3(1) of this Act, the definition of Slum area is:
Where the competent authority upon report from any its officers or other information
in its possession is satisfied as respect of any area that the buildings in that area '

a) are in any respect unfit for human habitation, or


b) are by reason of dilapidation, overcrowding, faulty arrangements and design of
such buildings narrowness or faulty arrangements of streets lack of ventilation, light
or sanitation facilities, or any combination of those factors detrimental to safety,
health or morals" it may by notification in the official Gazette, declare, such an area a
slum area.
In determining whether a building is unfit for human habitation for the purpose of this
act. regard shall be had to its condition in respect of the following matters, that is to
say
a) repairs.
b) stability:
c) freedom from damp:
d) natural light and air
e) water-supply
f) drainage and sanitary conveniences.
g) facilities for storage preparation and cooking of food and for the disposal of waste
water.

and the building shall be deemed to be unfit as aforesaid if any only if it is so far
defective in one or more of the said matters that it is not reasonably suitable for
occupation in that condition.

IV. Maharashtra

There is no definition of "Slum" in the Maharashtra Slum Areas (Improvement,


Clearance & Redevelopment) Act, 1971.

However, Sec.2 (ga) defines "Slum Area" as;


"Slum Area" means any area declared as such by the Competent Authority under
sub-section (1) of section 4;
As per the provisions of sub-section (i) of section 4 to declare an area as slum area,
it must satisfy the following conditions:-
i) any area is or may be a source of danger to the health, safety or convenience of
the public of that area or of its neighborhood, by reason of the area having
inadequate or no basic amenities, or being insanitary, squalid, overcrowded or
otherwise;
ii) the buildings in any area, used or intended to be used for human habitation are-
in any respect, unfit for human habitation; or - by reasons of dilapidation,
overcrowding, faulty arrangement and design of such building, narrowness or faulty
arrangement of streets, lack of ventilation, light or sanitation facilities or any
combination of these factors, detrimental to the health, safety or convenience of the
public of that area.
iii) To decide whether the buildings ore unfit for the purpose of human habitation,
the following conditions should be fulfilled: -
(a) repairs;
(b) stability;
(c) freedom from damp
(d) natural light and air;
(c) provision for water-supply;
(f) provision for drainage and sanitary conveniences;
(g) facilities for the disposal of waste water.

V. Uttar Pradesh
Where the Competent Authority upon information’s received or otherwise in its
possession is satisfied as respects any area that a majority of the buildings in the
area are-

(a) by reason of dilapidation, overcrowding ;faulty arrangements of design of such


buildings, narrowness or faulty arrangement of streets, lack of
ventilation; light or sanitation facilities, or any combination of these factors,
detrimental to safety , health or morals of inhabitants in the area, or
(b) Otherwise in any respect unfit for human inhabitation, it may by notification in the
official Gazette, declare such area to be slum area;

(2) In determining whether a building is unfit for human habitation, regard shall be
had to the following matters, that is to say-
(a)extent of necessary repairs;
(b) stability;
(c) extent of dilapidation
(e) water supply;
(d) arrangements for privies, drainage and sanitation;
(e) facilities for storage, preparation and cooking of food and for the disposal of
waste matter and water;
and the building shall be deemed to be unfit as aforesaid if it is so far defective in
one or more of the aforesaid matters that is not reasonably suitable for occupation in
that condition.

1.3 Definition used in the Report

As may be noted, there are significant differences in the various definitions of slums
used internationally and in India. On careful consideration of the various alternatives
available and keeping in mind the need to use a definition which is suitable for public
policy purposes, the Committee decided to adopt the definition used by the NSSO as
its working concept. To reiterate, the Committee defined slums as:

“A slum is a compact settlement of at least 20 households with a collection of


poorly built tenements, mostly of temporary nature, crowded together usually
with inadequate sanitary and drinking water facilities in unhygienic
conditions.”

It should be noted that this definition is broad enough to encompass almost all of the
others, except in one important dimension – the number of households. It is quite
possible to have slums with a lesser number of households which are quite as
insupportable, but it was felt that any smaller agglomeration would be difficult to
identify through any large scale survey procedure. The Report also makes no
distinction between recognized and unrecognized or notified and non-notified slums,
since the processes of recognition and notification are informed by considerations
other than the living conditions of the people.
CHAPTER – II

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

In 2001 Census, detailed demographic data about slums across the country was
collected by RGI. The coverage was restricted to cities/towns having population of
50.000 or above in 1991 census. Slum population was reported from only 640
cities/towns. RGI came out with the publication of Slum Population of 640
cities/towns with a population of 50,000 or above as per 1991 census reporting
slums (Phase I Report).

After detailed deliberations and on the recommendation of the Parliamentary


Standing Committee on Demands for Grants, the Ministry of Housing and Urban
Poverty Alleviation requested the Office of the Registrar General to further identify
the slum population in towns which have not been covered at the 2001 Census. After
consideration and due discussion, it was mutually decided to cover those towns
which have less than 50,000 but more than 20,000 population in 2001. It was
anticipated that these medium size population towns, may also be having a sizeable
slum population and estimation of slum population in them may then be vital for
planning their improvement.

The salient features of the RGI Report are as follows:

2.1 Coverage

In the first phase, 640 cities/towns with more than 50,000 population as per 1991
census were covered. In the second phase 1321 towns were covered [1151 with
20,000 to 50,000 population and 170 with more than 50,000 population]. Out of the
1321 towns covered in 2nd phase, 1103 reported having slums [958 towns - 20,000-
49,999 population and 145 with more than 50,000].

Total 1961 (640+1321) towns - covered for identification of slums. Out of 1961 towns,
1743 cities/towns having more than 20,000 population have reported having slums in
the Country.
2.2 Size and Distribution of the Slum Population

640 cities:
A total of 42.6 million people living in 8.3 million households have been enumerated
in slums of 640 cities/towns spread across 26 States and Union Territories in 2001
Census. The slum population constitutes 4.1 per cent of the total population of the
country. The slum dwellers of these cities constitute 15 percent of the total urban
population of the States and Union Territories reporting slum population

1103 cities:
A total of 9.8 million people living in 1.9 million households have been enumerated in
slums of 1103 cities/towns spread across 26 States and Union Territories in 2001
Census. The slum population constitutes one per cent of the total population of the
country. The slum dwellers of these cities constitute 3.5 percent of the total urban
population of the States and Union Territories reporting slum population

1743 cities (combined):

A total of 52.4 million people living in 10.2 million households have been enumerated
in slums of 1743 cities/towns spread across 26 States and Union Territories in 2001
Census. The slum population constitutes 5.1 per cent of the total population of the
country. The slum dwellers in 1743 cities constitute 18.5 percent of the total urban
population of the States and Union Territories reporting slum population.

2.3 Availability of slum data at present

• Since there was no Slum population data available (before Census 2001) on
full count basis at the national level, the slum population was estimated by
Town and Country Planning Organisation (TCPO) a subordinate office
under the then Ministry of Urban Employment and Poverty alleviation for
2001 on the basis of 1991 Census results. As per these estimates, the slum
population in 2001 was 61.82 million.
• The Registrar General of India enumerated slum population in the country
for the first time on the basis of Census of India, 2001. Accordingly, slum
population has been identified in 1174 towns/cities having urban population
of 20,000 or more spread over 26 State/Union Territories all over the
country. As per Census of India, 2001, a total of 52.4 million people are
living in slums in 1743 towns reporting slums which constitutes 23.5 % of the
population of these towns.

• As per UN Population Report (by Mid-year 2001), India’s urban slum


population is estimated at 158.42 million.

• National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) provides the basic


data/information on slums from various National Sample Surveys conducted
at different points of time. The first Survey on Slums (31st Round) namely
“Conditions of slum area in Cities’ was conducted in 1977 which was
restricted to class I cities. The second survey (49th Round) “Slums in India’
was conducted in 1993; slum data was collected separately for rural and
urban areas. The third survey (58th Round) was conducted exclusively for
urban slums namely “Conditions of Urban Slums’ in 2002. NSSO surveys
provide information on slum condition.

2.4 Data Gaps in Slum Report, 2001 by Registrar General of India

The census 2001 report on slums has left out smaller States like Himachal Pradesh,
Sikkim, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram etc. Many states are reluctant to accept these
slum data. In some States, the district/town authorities have not reported all the
towns/enumeration blocks that needed enumeration. In some States, in case of
cities/towns covered under Slum Census 2001 the district/town authorities have not
considered non-notified / non-recognized slums where there are land disputes.

RGI and NSSO are using different definitions of slums for the purpose of collecting
slum statistics in the country. The definition of slums also varies from State to State.
According to two reports by the RGI covering all towns/cities with population more
than 20,000, the slum population is 52.4 million whereas the TCPO has suggested
61.8 million as the estimated slum population in the year 2001. As per the UN
Population Report (by Mid-year 2001), India’s urban slum population is estimated at
158.42 million.

RGI is counting an Enumeration Block (EB) as slum area only when in that area at
least 300 population or about 60-70 households of poorly built congested tenements
exist. This definition excludes pockets or EB with less than 60 households having
slum like features. In many States/smaller towns, slums may be found having 20-25
households.

This has resulted in gross under-estimation/under-coverage of slum population in the


country and the slum estimates do not reflect the real picture on slum population in
many States. Some of the major States like Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh.
Maharashtra, Bihar. Madhya Pradesh etc. have approached the Ministry of Housing
& Urban Poverty Alleviation for fresh estimation of slum population in urban areas of
the States.

In the above background the Ministry of HUPA constituted the Committee under the
chairpersonship of Secretary (MOSPI) to look into various aspects of slum
statistics/census.

2.5 Programmes and Policies Implemented By Ministry of Housing and


Urban Poverty Alleviation

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation is implementing various Plan
and policies in the country to address the concerns of Housing, infrastructure, slum
development and basic civic amenities with special emphasis to urban poor. Various
programmes implemented by the Ministry of HUPA is one way or other for the
benefit of urban poor with special emphasis to slum dwellers. Some of the Major
Programmes of this Ministry are:
• Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission: Basic Services to the
Urban Poor (BSUP) & Integrated Housing & Slum Development Programme
(IHSDP)
• Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY)
• Affordable Housing in Partnership (AHIP)
• Interest Subsidy Scheme for Housing the Urban Poor (ISHUP)
• Integrated Low Cost Sanitation Scheme (ILCS)
• Projects/ Schemes for the Development of North Eastern States, including
Sikkim

Vision of Slum Free India: Launch of Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY)

Urban poverty and slums are emerging as critical issues of public policy. The locus
of poverty appears to be shifting to cities. The conditions of the poor in slums are in
some respect inferior to those in rural areas. Recognizing the need to focus on the
development and up gradation of slums with basic amenities and affordable housing,
Her Excellency the President of India has accounted Rajiv Awas Yojana aimed at
ushering in Slum-free Urban India.

PM’s Announcement on Independence Day

“We had started the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission for the urban
areas. We will accelerate this programme also. Today, lakhs of our citizen live in
slums which lack basic amenities. We wish to make our country slum free as early
as possible. In the next five years, we will provide better housing facilities to slum
dwellers through a new scheme, Rajiv Awas Yojana”.

President’s Speech in Joint Session of Parliament

“My Government proposes to introduce a Rajiv Awas Yojana for the slum dwellers
and the urban poor on the lines of the Indira Awas Yojana for the rural poor. The
schemes for affordable housing through partnership and the scheme for interest
subsidy for urban housing would be dovetailed into the Rajiv Awas Yojana which
would extend support under JNNURM to States that are willing to assign property
rights to people living in slum areas. My Government's effort would be to create a
slum free India in five years through the Rajiv Awas Yojana.”

Rajiv Awas Yojana for the slum dwellers and the urban poor envisages a ‘Slum-free
India’ through encouraging States/UTs to tackle the problem of slums in a definitive
manner. This would be achieved by a multi-prolonged approach focusing on:

• bringing existing slums within the formal system and enabling them to avail of
the same level of basic amenities as the rest of the town;
• redressing the failures of the formal system that lie behind the creation of
slums; and
• tackling the shortages of urban land and housing that keep shelter out of
reach of the urban poor and force them to resort to extra-legal solutions in a
bid to retain their sources of livelihood and employment.

2.6 Necessity for a reliable Slum Data Base

6.1 JNNURM, which is a flagship programme of the Government of India, was


initiated with focus on urban renewal, urban infrastructure development and basic
services to the urban poor. The Sub-Mission on Basic Services to the Urban Poor
(BSUP) aims to provide integrated services to the urban poor including slum-
dwellers, in these 65 cities. These include affordable housing and both basic
physical and social amenities. Slum development and basic services to the urban
poor in these cities and towns are taken up under the scheme of Integrated Housing
& Slum Development Programme (IHSDP).

6.2 The advent of JNNURM has led to a realization that the data base for
undertaking such a huge programme like JNNURM is grossly inadequate. JNNURM
calls for the preparation of City Development Plans (CDPs) and meaningful
development of CDPs requires a strong data base. In the absence of adequate and
reliable data, the CDPs of cities and towns already prepared after the launching of
JNNURM have not adequately addressed the concerns of the urban poor, especially
slum-dwellers. The Ministry of Urban Development and the Ministry of Housing &
Urban Poverty Alleviation are currently undertaking an exercise for the preparation of
second-generation CDPs. The preparation of municipal level action plans will require
a considerable amount of data.

6.3 For the effective implementation of JNNURM and other programmes like
Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY), a large amount of data pertaining
to the slums in various parts of the country needs to be collected. There is a need for
the development of a national information system and knowledge base with focus on
urban poverty for the purpose of planning, policy-making, project formulation,
implementation, monitoring and review, especially in the areas of slum development,
provision of basic services to the poor, and affordable housing. This is in
consonance with the objective of the 11th Five Year Plan which has adopted
‘inclusive growth’ as the key development paradigm for the country.

6.4 Due to non availability of authentic statistics on State-wise slum population,


the State-wise fund allocation under JNNURM was done by the Planning
Commission on the basis of TCPO estimates. This has led to faulty planning and
under-estimation of financial requirements in the absence of a true picture on
magnitude of the problem. There is an urgent need to have slum definition which is
acceptable to all states and Union Government. Moreover, inclusive Growth
necessitates proper planning to uplift the major segment of urban poor. Since Slum
Dwellers constitute major segment of the urban poor there is an imperative need to
know the correct count on them in the country. The development of robust estimates
of slum population would thus help in better targeting of JNNURM funds.

6.5 Authentic database is a pre-requirement to assess the magnitude of the


problem and undertake formulation of plans, policies and schemes so that potential
beneficiaries are targeted in a meaningful manner. Developing a robust database on
slums and to get a definitive understanding of the size of the problem and its
distribution across cities is critical for implementation of the proposed Rajiv Awas
Yojana (RAY). The vision of Slum Free India can be achieved only on the
foundations of sound plans based on sound data.
CHAPTER – III

ESTIMATING SLUM POPULATION

For the first time in the history of the Population Census in the country, slum
demography has been presented on the basis of actual count in Census 2001.
Detailed demographic data about slum areas across the cities in the country
having population more than 50,000 in 1991 Census have been enumerated.
This process of systematic delineation of slums for collection of their
demographic characteristics is the probably first attempt in the World census
history. The concept, perception and definition of slums vary across the states,
depending on their socio-economic conditions but their physical characteristics
are almost similar. Slums are usually a cluster of hutments with dilapidated
and infirm structures having common toilet facilities, suffering from lack of basic
amenities, inadequate arrangements for drainage and for disposal of solid
waste and garbage (Slum population, 2005). Inadequacies of basic amenities
and infrastructural resources make living conditions in these slums highly
unhygienic and disease prone.

Under Section-3 of the Slum Area Improvement and Clearance Act, 1956,
slums have been defined as mainly those residential areas where dwelling are
in any respect unfit for human habitation by reasons of dilapidation
overcrowding, faulty arrangements and designs of such buildings, narrowness
or faulty arrangements of streets, lack of ventilation, light or sanitation facilities
or any combination of these factors which are detrimental to safety, health and
morals (Slum population 2005).

In Census 2001, slum areas in the municipal towns of each state/union


territory, having population of 50,000 or more in 1991 Census were selected for
tabulation. Slum Enumeration Blocks (SEB) were identified during formation of
Enumeration Blocks (EB) in wards of a town. Clusters of 60-70 households
with at least 300 populations were carved out as a separate SEB. A detail of
this slum demographic evaluation is provided in Slum population of India, 2001.
During this exercise, slum population has been reported from 640 cities and

Page 22 of 74
towns of twenty six states/union territories. More than 72,000 SEBs were
identified which was approximately 22% of total EBs.

Recently, Government of India introduced Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) which


would extend support to states that are willing to assign property rights to
people living in slum areas. The main focus of the RAY is an integrated
approach aimed at bringing within the formal system those who are forced to
live in extra-formal spaces and in denial of right to services and amenities
available to those with legal title to city spaces, and at correcting the
deficiencies of the formal system of urban development and town planning that
have failed to create conditions of inclusiveness and equity, so that, henceforth,
new urban families, whether by way of migration or natural growth of
population, have recourse to housing with civic amenities, and are not forced
from lack of options to create encroachments and slums and live extralegal
lives in conditions of deprivation of rights and amenities and indebtedness to
informal moneylenders.

3.1 The Problem

Initially, the Census coverage was restricted to cities/towns having population


of 50,000 or above in 1991 Census. Therefore, phase I report of slum Census
reported only 640 cities/towns. However, as a follow up of recommendation of
Parliamentary Standing Committee, Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty
Alleviation requested Registrar General of India (RGI) to cover these
towns/cities with population of 20,000-50,000 as per 2001 census. In this
phase II census 958 towns with 20,000 to 50,000 reported slum population
were covered. Therefore, total slum population of the country reported in 1743
cities/towns was 52.4 million. However, the TCPO has suggested 61.8 million
as the estimated slum population of India in 2001. Further, U.N. Population
report estimated urban slum population in India as 158.42 million by mid 2001.

It has been found that in many states, the district/town authorities have not
reported all the towns/enumeration blocks that need enumeration. Many
smaller States, like Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Nagaland, Manipur and
Mizoram were not included. Also, in many States, cities/towns covered under

Page 23 of 74
slum Census 2001 have not considered, non-notified slums, where there are
land disputes. As a consequence of this, it is expected that the slum population
of the country was grossly underestimated. There were differences/anomalies
between estimates of National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) and RGI.
This may be due to the fact that, in case of NSSO, slum area was stipulated
with 20-30 households, where as RGI considered clusters of 60-70 households
as slum. Further, there were some of the States like Andhra Pradesh, Uttar
Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh have approached the Ministry
of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation for fresh estimation of slum
population in urban areas of the States. A committee has been set up under the
Chairmanship of Secretary, Ministry of Statistics and Programme
Implementation (MOSPI) to look into various aspects of slum statistics/Census.

Due to non-availability of any authentic statistics on State wise slum population,


the State wise fund allocation under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal
Mission (JNNURM) was done by the Planning Commission on the basis of the
TCPO estimates. The underestimation of slum population in States like Bihar,
Uttar Pradesh etc. has resulted in less allocation of funds for slum development
and basic services to the urban poor in these States. Therefore, the first
priority of the Committee is to suggest suitable adjustments/corrections to
arrive at State-wise urban slum population for 1743 cities/towns in the country
based on suitable statistical techniques. Further, in order to get overall
estimates of slum population in the country, the Ministry has requested to
include 3427 small towns of various States in this study. Therefore, this report
consists of state-wise estimates of slum population from all 5161 cities in the
country. The estimates obtained may be useful for allocation of resources
under RAY to the states.

3.2 Analytical Approach

Slum population data for the year 2001 of 1743 cities/towns was provided by
the Ministry along with indicator of bad estimates. Along with this data, total
population and number of households of these cities/towns were also provided.
The cities/towns of each State were divided in two groups, first group consists
of those cities in which estimates of slum population are reasonably reliable

Page 24 of 74
and cities/towns with slum population with suspicious estimates were put into
second group. Ward wise information of each city/town was extracted from data
set of Census 2001. This data set consists of data of each urban ward on 119
original and derived parameters. These parameters are related to population
demographic pertaining to various social groups/categories such as gender,
literacy, working categories, social groups etc. After suitable aggregation and
matching with the help of total population of the cities/towns provided by the
Ministry, two data sets, i.e. data from Census 2001 and data of slum population
provided by the Ministry, were integrated along with all the variables of Census
2001 on one to one basis.

In order to identify important covariate for slum population, data set on 119
parameters of cities/towns with reasonable estimate of slum population from all
the cities of the country were considered and correlation matrix was obtained.
With the help of this correlation matrix, variables from Census with significant
correlation coefficient with slum population were identified and segregated for
further analysis. Again, state wise data was taken up for identification of
important variables for each state. The important variables were identified with
the help of fitting multiple regression models using stepwise technique. The
results of this analysis shows that six covariates viz. (i) number of schedule
caste, (ii) number of schedule tribe, (iii) number of illiterate persons, (iv) number
of persons under non-workers group, (v) number of persons under other
marginal worker group and (vi) number of persons under casual labourer
worker group are most important to determine slum population of cities/towns in
most of the states. Therefore, for further analysis, these variables were
considered. It was observed that, these covariates were also highly correlated
with each other. Therefore, in fitting of multiple regression models there was
problem of multi-collinearity among independent variables of this model.
Hence, need was felt to apply Principal Component Analysis (PCA) technique
to generate independent transformed covariates with the help of these original
covariates.

Principal component scores were calculated for six principal components for
each state separately for cities/towns with reliable estimates of slum population
as well as cities/towns for suspicious estimates of slum population. Now these

Page 25 of 74
PCA scores were used as covariates for estimation of regression coefficients
and its standard errors based on slum population of cities and towns with
reliable data for each state separately.

These estimated regression coefficients were used to estimate the slum


population of other cities/towns which had no estimates of slum population or
estimates of slum population were not reliable. Note that the models for
estimation are based on PCA scores based on six earlier identified variables.
There was problem of estimation of regression coefficients for those states in
which no city/town has authenticated estimates of slum population or number of
cities/towns with authenticated estimates of slum population was less then
desired numbers, i.e. approximately 20, as the reliable estimates of regression
coefficients of the model cannot be obtained under this situation. Mixed model
or multilevel model was used for estimation of slum population based on PCA
scores and data from all the cities/towns.

In case of small cities/towns, there was no data of slum population available


since such data has not been collected at any point of time by official agencies.
Therefore, the estimates of slum population for small towns in different states
were obtained based on model from 210 cities in the country which has
population ranging between 20000 to 25000. Since, these estimates were
based on model of larger cities, therefore a correction factor has been applied
on the estimates of slum population obtained from this model based average
population in both groups of cities and relationship between urban population
growth and slum population growth as the growth in urban slum are faster than
the grown in urban population.

3.3 Results:

The data has been analysed with approach and methodology described in
previous sections. The percentage average standard error and coefficient of
determinations of State wise multiple regression models fitted for major States
to estimate urban slum population has been given in Table 1.

Page 26 of 74
Table 1. Percentage average standard error and coefficient of determination of
model for major States used for prediction of urban slum population

Coefficient of
States determinant No of Cities % AV SE

Andhra Pradesh 0.91 99 5.87


Chhattisgarh 0.97 25 12.55

Gujarat 0.99 28 8.26

Haryana 0.99 30 6.66

Karnataka 0.84 104 10.07

Kerala 0.91 99 4.95

Maharashtra 0.99 69 5.11

Madhya Pradesh 0.88 102 10.68

Orrisa 0.86 46 14.84

Punjab 0.99 40 3.85

Rajasthan 0.99 50 7.01

Tamil Nadu 0.92 145 8.24

Uttar Pradesh 0.88 140 14.68

Uttarakhand 0.98 12 14.40


West Bengal 0.99 54 4.96

Bihar 0.83 48 15.33

Page 27 of 74
It can be seen from Table 1 that coefficient of determinant of different major
states lies between 0.83 and 0.99. These values clearly show that the variation
in the data pertaining to various cities/towns within states has been well
captured through these fitted models. Further the percentage average standard
error (% AV SE) of models fitted to different states ranges between 3.85 % and
15.33 %. Out of 16 major states % AV SE of 9 states are below 10%. In few
states like Uttaranchal (14.40%), Uttar Pradesh (14.68%), Orissa (14.84%) and
Bihar (15.33%) have marginally higher % AV SE. A critical examination of the
data and results indicated that this was either due to small number of
observation or due to large variation in the demography of cities/towns in the
state. Overall these results provide an evidence of reliability of the fitted model
used for the estimation of urban slum population. The state-wise aggregated
slum and slum like population estimated by the models fitted for all 5161 towns
has been given in Table 2A. Estimated slum population from 3799 (5161-1362)
towns in 2001 (Excluding Census Towns) are provided in Table 2B. State wise
projected slum population from year 2011 to 2017 are provided in Table 2C.

3.4 Remarks:

The estimates of the statewise slum population provided in this chapter are
synthetic estimates based on a combination of hard data from Census 2001
and statistical techniques. It is, therefore, necessary to clearly lay down the
inherent weaknesses of these estimates. First and foremost, it needs to be
recognized that the correlates of slum population that have been used in
deriving these estimates are not in any manner related to either spatial or living
conditions, but to the social characteristics of the population. The error in both
direction and magnitude introduced by this methodology is difficult to assess
precisely. On the one hand, since the base data relates to large slum clusters,
these estimates may not pick up the characteristics relevant to smaller slums,
thereby underestimating the slum population. On the other hand, it could well
be the case that the estimated population may be living in substandard or slum-
like conditions, but in non-contiguous or non-compact areas, which would
violate the definition of slums used in this report, and thereby lead to over-
estimation.

Page 28 of 74
Second, these estimates of necessity are valid only for the year of the
Population Census, i.e. for 2001. The projections that have been presented in
Table 2C are at best only indicative. Assumptions have had to be made about
the growth rates of the various correlates that have been used in the analysis.
Some data were available from the 61st quinquennial round of NSSO for 2004-
05, but these can only be treated as proxies. By and large, therefore, these
projections should be treated with great circumspection since they mostly
reflect natural growth rates without really taking account of either migration or
increases in the boundaries of existing urban areas. At a broad level, the point
that is being made out can be seen from the fact that the estimated growth of
the slum population in the country comes to about 2 per cent per annum. This
appears to be distinctly on the lower side.

Nevertheless, even with these caveats, the estimates provided in this chapter
are a marked improvement over the other estimates that exist at present.
Since the allocations made by the Ministry in any case are based on the 2001
Census figures, the Committee is confident that the base-line estimates
provided in Tables 2A and 2B are appropriate for this particular purpose.

Page 29 of 74
Table 2A: State wise estimated slum population for all 5161 towns in 2001

State/UT Urban Slum % of Slum % of State Slum


Population Population Population in Urban Population in Total
Population of state Slum Population of
India

Andaman and Nicobar Island 116198 20303 17.47 0.03


Andhra Pradesh 20808940 7254399 34.86 9.64
Arunachal 227881 56538 24.81 0.08
Assam 3439240 805701 23.43 1.07
Bihar 8681800 1422155 16.38 1.89
Chandigarh 808515 208057 25.73 0.28
Chhattisgarh 4185747 1578285 37.71 2.10
Dadra and Nagar Haveli 50463 7653 15.17 0.01
Daman & Diu 57348 7420 12.94 0.01
Delhi 12905780 2318635 17.97 3.08
Goa 670577 100365 14.97 0.13
Gujarat 18930250 3708127 19.59 4.93
Haryana 6115304 2350269 38.43 3.12
Himachal 595581 69310 11.64 0.09
Jammu & 2516638 395696 15.72 0.53
Jharkhand 5993741 762025 12.71 1.01
Karnataka 17961529 2951441 16.43 3.92
Kerala 8266925 499498 6.04 0.66
Lakshadweep 26967 1683 6.24 0.00
Madhya Pradesh 15967145 5107505 31.99 6.79
Maharashtra 41100980 14319132 34.84 19.03
Manipur 575968 68967 11.97 0.09
Meghalaya 454111 172223 37.93 0.23
Mizoram 441006 87309 19.80 0.12
Nagaland 342787 73523 21.45 0.10
Orissa 5517238 1401973 25.41 1.86
Pondicherry 648619 92495 14.26 0.12
Punjab 8262511 2164649 26.20 2.88
Rajasthan 13214375 3118120 23.60 4.14
Sikkim 59870 9609 16.05 0.01
Tamilnadu 27483998 7340271 26.71 9.75
Tripura 545750 104281 19.11 0.14
Uttar Pradesh 34539582 8527840 24.69 11.33
Uttaranchal 2179074 638467 29.30 0.85
West Bengal 22427251 7520116 33.53 9.99
India 286119689 75264040 26.31 100.00

Page 30 of 74
Table 2B. Estimated slum population from 3799 (5161-1362) towns in 2001 (Excluding Census Towns)

State/UT Statutory town Slum % of Slum % of State Slum


Urban Population Population Population in Urban Population in Total
Population of state Slum Population of
India
Andaman and Nicobar
Island 99984 16325 16.3 0.02
Andhra Pradesh 18825938 6918681 36.8 9.77
Arunachal Pradesh 0 0 0 0.00
Assam 3023468 744875 24.6 1.05
Bihar 8641459 1413470 16.4 2.00
Chandigarh 808515 208135 25.7 0.29
Chhattisgarh 3915174 1504139 38.4 2.12
Dadra and Nagar Haveli 0 0 0 0.00
Daman & Diu 57348 7420 12.9 0.01
Delhi 10306452 2021667 19.6 2.86
Goa 411041 27309 6.6 0.04
Gujarat 17933370 3481136 19.4 4.92
Haryana 5827148 2287657 39.3 3.23
Himachal Pradesh 590347 69310 11.7 0.10
Jammu & Kashmir 2501317 395696 15.8 0.56
Jharkhand 3797343 484334 12.8 0.68
Karnataka 17542974 2870440 16.4 4.05
Kerala 6047422 225775 3.7 0.32
Lakshadweep 0 0 0 0.00
Madhya Pradesh 15465716 4995427 32.3 7.06
Maharashtra 39387645 13979091 35.5 19.75
Manipur 545086 87545 16.1 0.12
Meghalaya 321626 135366 42.1 0.19
Mizoram 441006 87309 19.8 0.12
Nagaland 326283 67862 20.8 0.10
Orissa 5253524 1366364 26.0 1.93
Puducherry 648619 73932 11.4 0.10
Punjab 8101169 2136946 26.4 3.02
Rajasthan 12822696 3037838 23.7 4.29
Sikkim 45513 5367 11.8 0.01
Tamil Nadu 26095643 6177353 23.7 8.73
Tripura 370328 28575 7.7 0.04
Uttar Pradesh 33397523 8322218 24.9 11.75
Uttarakhand 2049230 613831 30.0 0.87
West Bengal 19504990 7006367 35.9 9.90
India 265105897 70797763 26.7 100.00

Page 31 of 74
Table 2C. State wise projected slum population from year 2011 to 2017

State 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017


Andaman and
Nicobar
Island 33722 35294 36867 38265 39663 41060 42633
Andhra
Pradesh 8188022 8273434 8357451 8440074 8521999 8602530 8681318
Arunachal
Pradesh 98248 103459 108669 114127 119833 125788 131494
Assam 1070835 1100118 1129636 1159857 1190780 1222406 1253798
Bihar 1683954 1707378 1730148 1752590 1774376 1795671 1816639
Chandigarh 332473 348685 365154 381881 397321 411474 429744
Chhattisgarh 2111546 2169237 2228058 2287634 2347964 2409802 2470886
Dadra and
Nagar Haveli 26083 28813 31542 34424 37305 40035 43219
Daman & Diu 9187 9316 9316 9445 9445 9575 9575
Delhi 3163430 3260984 3360874 3463999 3570716 3681745 3793313
Goa 154759 161494 168229 174815 180801 185741 192476
Gujarat 4662619 4759581 4856740 4954094 5051840 5149782 5245569
Haryana 3288292 3390907 3495059 3600364 3707207 3815202 3923582
Himachal
Pradesh 87281 89143 91005 92983 94845 96707 98685
Jammu &
Kashmir 494180 504243 514306 524369 534275 544180 553771
Jharkhand 931912 948949 966239 983530 1001202 1019382 1036673
Karnataka 3631147 3700490 3770161 3839998 3910162 3980656 4049341
Kerala 533278 536057 538776 541314 543671 545906 548021
Lakshadweep 1560 1560 1498 1435 1435 1435 1373
Madhya
Pradesh 6393040 6523229 6654059 6785528 6917636 7050705 7181214
Maharashtra 18151071 18549628 18950624 19352665 19754009 20152914 20557046
Manipur 75197 75915 76514 76993 77592 78190 78789
Meghalaya 205176 208590 212003 215416 219209 222622 226415
Mizoram 105720 107700 109679 111659 113639 115619 117599
Nagaland 83220 84292 85365 86223 87295 88368 89226
Orissa 1736064 1770623 1805436 1840503 1876078 1912161 1948244
Puducherry 136899 143316 149876 156435 162282 167131 174118
Punjab 2798256 2864014 2930296 2996316 3062598 3128094 3193590
Rajasthan 3826160 3894590 3962311 4029561 4095395 4160049 4224939
Sikkim 13321 13803 14124 14605 14926 15408 15729
Tamil Nadu 8644892 8862969 9081045 9298651 9515080 9729624 9940165
Tripura 131080 134137 137003 140061 143118 146175 149232
Uttar Pradesh 10878336 11127210 11378552 11631376 11885434 12139739 12394291
Uttarakhand 826257 846181 866105 886615 906832 927342 947559
West Bengal 8546755 8640642 8733188 8825399 8918616 9014179 9106055
India 93055983 94977993 96907923 98845216 100786594 102729415 104668340

Page 32 of 74
CHAPTER – IV

CONDUCTING SLUM CENSUS

4.1 Background of Census 2001 data on slums:

In the Houselisting phase of Census, data on housing condition, amenities and


assets available to the households are recorded. Based on the population
figures at this phase, the blocks are re-carved to ensure a more equitable
workload to the enumerators. Thus, both the Houselisting Block (HLB) numbers
and the HLB boundaries, created during the Houselisting phase in the year
2000, has undergone modification at the time of Population Enumeration in
2001.

The census Enumeration Blocks (EB), the basic frame of the population
enumeration, covers the entire geography of the country without omission or
duplication. In the Census 2001, the EBs carved out in the slum areas of large
towns were identified separately and population data for them were presented.

Since the identification of the slums were done using the EBs formed at the
time of population enumeration, exact details of housing condition, amenities
and assets of households are not available separately for the slum and non-
slum areas. However, in urban areas, the results of many census indicators are
published at the ward level. Thus, it is possible to identify wards which were
consisting of predominantly slum blocks. Using this ward level information, one
can look at the information available in the different Houselisting Blocks of the
same ward.

4.2 Methodology – Identification of variables:

To form a normative approach, the first step is to identify the variables which
can distinguish between the slum and non-slum areas. The definition followed
by the UN Habitat with respect to categorising slum has first been studied to

Page 33 of 74
arrive at the definition. The UN-HABITAT defines1 a slum household which lack
one or more of the four criteria, namely,
i. Durable housing of a permanent nature,
ii. Sufficient living space, which means not more than three
people sharing the same room,
iii. Easy access to safe water in sufficient amounts at an
affordable price, and
iv. Access to adequate sanitation in the form of a private or
public toilet shared by a reasonable number of households.

It may be noted that the UN-HABITAT definition is based on the conditions


prevailing at a particular household, while the approach to be followed in the
Indian context would be area-based, which would have a cluster of households
lacking of basic amenities. However, the UN-HABITAT provides a good starting
point for short-listing the variables and analyse the results in the Indian context
for firming up the final criteria.

In a cluster approach, the condition of slum-areas are characterised by


dilapidated and infirm housing structure, poor ventilation, acute overcrowding,
faulty alignment of streets, inadequate lighting, paucity of safe drinking water,
water logging during rains, absence of toilet facilities and non-availability of
basic physical and social services to a group of contiguous households at a
specific urban or peri-urban location. Many of these areas have already been
earmarked by the State government/ local administration in India, particularly at
the metropolis and bigger towns.

In Census 20012, the ‘slum EBs’ were demarcated in all statutory towns with a
population of 50,000 or more as per the Census 1991. Slum population was
reported from 640 towns of 26 States/UTs. More than 23 percent of the
population from these 640 towns were from the ‘slum EBs’. A total of six States
(Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and
Mizoram) and three UTs (Daman & Diu, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and

1
UN-HABITAT: State of the World’s Cities, 2006-7.
2
Slum Population, India Vol I. Series -1, Census of India 2001: ORGI publication.

Page 34 of 74
Lakshadweep) did not report any slum population. Three types of slum areas
considered for demarcating the ‘slum EB’s in Census 2001 were:
• Notified slum: All areas notified as ‘Slum’ by the State Government / UT
administration under any Act.
• Recognised slum: All areas recognised as ‘Slum’ by the State/ Local
Government and UT administration, which have not been formally
notified as slum under any Act.
• Identified slum: A compact area of at least 300 population or about 60-
70 households of poorly built congested tenements, in unhygienic
environment usually with inadequate infrastructure and lacking in proper
sanitary and drinking water facilities.

It may be noted that all EBs formed in entire notified and recognised slum
areas were considered as ‘slum EBs’. Further, the ‘identified slum’ areas were
identified by the Census Charge Officers, who were from the respective
municipalities, at the time of forming the Census EBs. The Charge Officers
were instructed not to mix the slum and non-slum areas while demarcating the
census EBs. Thus, ‘slum EBs’ were from all the three types of areas mentioned
above.

With respect to the housing condition and amenities available at the household,
the Census provides, among others, data on predominant material of floor, wall
and roof of a census house, number of dwelling rooms exclusively in
possession of a household, major source of lighting, main source of drinking
water, distance from the source of drinking water, type of drainage, type of
latrine, etc.

In view of the definitions followed and availability of relevant data, a set of five
variables was first short-listed, from among the various data-items available
from the Houselisting phase data of Census 2001, for testing the normative
definition. These are:
• Type of structure of the census house, which requires data on two
variables, namely, predominant material used for the wall and
predominant material used for roof;
• Number of dwelling rooms in exclusive possession of a household,

Page 35 of 74
• Availability of drinking water source,
• Type of latrine and,
• Type of drainage facility.

4.3 Methodology – procedure of data analysis:

General:

First, it may be noted that the ‘slum EB’ demarcated during the population
enumeration phase were used for generating the slum PCA in the Census
2001. As one-to-one onto mapping between HLB number and EB number was
not planned, it was not possible to exactly get the ‘slum HLB’ numbers. Hence,
the results on housing condition, amenities, etc. separately for the entire slum
area could not be processed. However, at each town, there were some wards
which did not have ‘slum EBs’. These wards have been considered to check
the normative criteria with respect to the ‘test towns’, namely, Agra MC and
Pune MC.

All the Houselisting Blocks of the shortlisted wards (wards which did not report
any ‘slum EB’ in Census 2001) of Agra and Pune were considered for the data
analysis. In each HLB, the households satisfying a criterion (a set of 4/5
conditions taken together, as would be explained subsequently) were identified.
If the total number of such households exceeded 20, the HLB has been
earmarked as one where we may find a slum-like cluster. Let us call these
HLBs as ‘slum-like HLBs’.

Preparing town level summary:

After finding the ‘slum-like HLBs’, the total number of households satisfying the
criteria and located in the ‘slum-like HLBs’ were counted. This number, together
with the number of slum-households found in Census 2001 has then been
compared with the number of slum households reported in Census 2001. This
has been done to gauge the effect of the criteria and, judge its extent of
inclusiveness in identifying ‘slum-like’ HLBs.

Page 36 of 74
Setting the initial criteria:

As explained above, five different facets were short-listed for determining


whether the living condition of a household is ‘slum-like’ or not. The next step
was to fix a set of conditions with respect to each facet. Whenever a household
satisfies a particular set of conditions, it would be considered ‘slum-like’ under a
given criteria. Two different criteria, one a bit restrictive and the second one, a
more liberal one, were fixed initially for the experimentation. The two criteria
can be seen at Table 1 below.

Table 1: Criteria to qualify a household as ‘slum-like’ based on Census


2001 data of Houselisting Schedule
Any household which satisfied all the under-mentioned criteria was
considered as ‘slum-like’ household
Criterion A Criterion B
i) Type of house: Katcha or semi- i) Type of house: Katcha or semi-
pucca pucca
ii) Availability of drinking water ii) Availability of drinking water
source: not within premises source: not within premises
iii) Availability of latrine: not within iii) Availability of latrine: not within
house house
iv) Drainage facility: no drainage or iv) Drainage facility: no drainage
open drainage or open drainage
v) No. of dwelling rooms: at most 1
Note: A house is considered as pucca if it is predominantly built of the following wall and
roof materials. All the other houses are either katcha or semi-pucca.
Wall material: stone, GI/metal/asbestos sheet, brick, concrete
Roof material: tiles, stone, slate, GI/metal/asbestos sheet, brick, concrete

Initial set of results:

The number of wards, HLBs and households in Census 2001, for the towns of
Agra and Pune are given at Table 2 below. The summary results based on the
criteria mentioned above, depicting the number of ‘slum-like’ households in
‘slum-like’ HLBs are shown at Table 3.

Page 37 of 74
Table 2: Number of wards and no. of Household in Agra
and Pune, Census 2001
No. of households
No. of wards
(in thousands, Census
(Census 2001)
2001)
With 1
Town Without
or
any ‘slum
Total more Total
‘slum households’
‘slum
EB’
EBs’
Agra 80 44 36 197 28
Pune 162 86 76 555 99
Note: Slum EBs were delineated at the time of population enumeration
phase of Census 2001.

Table 3: Number of ‘slum-like’ HLBs in the non-slum wards and


no. of ‘slum-like’ Household in these HLBs, Agra and
Pune, Census 2001
Numbers as per Houselisting phase data of Census 2001
‘slum-like’
HLBs with ‘slum-like’ HLBs with
households
Town non- at least 20 households at least 20
in
slum ‘slum-like’ in earmarked ‘slum-like’
earmarked
wards households HLBs households
HLBs
Criterion A Criterion B
Agra 36 21 785 41 1,635
Pune 76 80 3,679 130 3,679

However, even with a relatively relaxed criterion, the number of ‘slum-like’


HLBs in the non-slum wards was very few. The number of slum-like
households using this relaxed criterion added another 3 to 4 percent of the
existing slum-households in these towns. The number increased by only 1600
households in Agra and 3700 households at Pune.

Ground verification:

It was then decided to actually visit the identified households at their actual
location. For this, the first job was to identify the clusters. In Census, layout
maps are prepared by the enumerators which depict all the buildings visited by
them. The building numbers are written both on the Schedule and the layout
map. Data of a few earmarked HLBs were processed to cull out the household
numbers and the Houselisting Schedules were manually examined to find the

Page 38 of 74
corresponding building numbers and census house numbers. Then, these
numbers were encircled on the layout maps to identify the location of the
cluster(s) within the earmarked HLB. Officers of the ORGI personally visited
some of the HLBs with the layout maps to assess the ground situation and took
photographs of the actual condition prevailing at this point in time.

Revision of criteria:

In some of the locations, the actual situation has changed somewhat and the
houses have changed from Katcha to pucca. Moreover, all the slum-like
households were not present at a single cluster within the HLB. In sme places,
the smaller clusters, consisting of 5-10 households, were located in between
two multi-storied buildings, or on the roadside at one of the boundaries of the
HLB. However, the most significant observation was, in many cases, the roofs
of the houses were actually made of either tiles or GI metal. In some cases, the
walls were also made of GI sheets. It may be noted that both ‘tiles’ and ‘GI
metal’, as per the definition followed, are pucca material. Thus, although the
situation of the cluster is quite ‘slum-like’ (the drainage system is either non-
existing or has broken down, public latrines are the only latrine facility available
to households, etc.), according to the predefined criteria, these households are
not being considered as ‘slum-like’, since most of the houses are built of
‘pucca’ material. Hence, the criterion was further revised and it was decided
that houses with concrete roof would only be excluded. The revised criteria and
the results using the revised criterion (Criterion C) are presented at Table 4. It
may be seen that using the revised criterion, about 25 percent households get
added over and above the existing slum-households enumerated in Census
2001.

Page 39 of 74
Table 4: Revised Criteria (Criterion C) to qualify a household as ‘slum-
like’ based on Census 2001 data of Houselisting Schedule
Any household which satisfied
all the four under-mentioned
criteria was considered as
‘slum-like’ household Numbers as per Houselisting phase
data of Census 2001
Criterion C
‘slum-like’
i) Predominant roof material: HLBs with
households
any material other than non- at least 20
in
concrete (RBC/ RCC) Town slum ‘slum-like’
earmarked
ii) Availability of drinking water wards households
HLBs
source: not within premises Criterion C
of the census house
Agra 36 105 5,356
iii) Availability of latrine:
not within premises of the Pune 76 333 20,278
census house
iv) Drainage facility:
no drainage or open drainage

4.5 Summary and recommendations:

Coverage: All the Statutory Towns notified till 31st December 2009 will be
covered in this exercise.

Methodology:
1. The ORGI will use exactly the same definition used in Census 2001 for
delineating the ‘slum blocks’ in the notified, recognised and identified
slum areas of each Statutory town. The M/O Housing and Urban Poverty
Alleviation (M/O HUPA) will issue suitable instructions requesting all the
State Governments and municipal Commissioners to extend necessary
support in earmarking these areas during the Houselisting Operations
scheduled to commence from April 2010.
2. In addition, the Houselisting and Housing Census data will be used for
earmarking the ‘slum-like’ clusters uniformly throughout the country,
since the condition of census house where the households live, the
amenities available to the households, etc. is recorded at this phase of
the Census operations.

Page 40 of 74
3. The ORGI will identify all the HLBs where at least 20 households
satisfying the set criterion exist. Subsequently, the ORGI will hand over
the layout maps of these HLBs to the M/O Housing and Urban Poverty
Alleviation (M/O HUPA).
4. The M/O HUPA will undertake independent ground verification at these
HLBs to decide whether these blocks can be additionally earmarked as
blocks with ‘slum-like’ clusters. The ORGI will not be involved in the
ground verification phase.

Recommended criteria to decide a slum-like household based on Census


2011 Houselisting and Housing Census data:

1. Any household which satisfy all the four conditions mentioned


underneath will be considered as a ‘slum-like’ household. The four
conditions are:
i. Predominant material of Roof of the Census House: Roof
should be made of any material other than concrete.
“Concrete’ would include both RBC and RCC,
ii Availability of drinking water source: Source of drinking
water should not be available within the premises of the census
house,
iii Type of latrine: Household does not have any latrine facility
within the premises of the census house, i.e., they either have
public latrine or no latrine.
iv Type of drainage: Household does not have closed drainage.

2. Any HLB with at least 20 households devoid of the four facilities with
respect to housing condition, drinking water, latrine and drainage, as
explained at paragraph 5 (c) above, will be considered as a HLB having
a chance of having a ‘slum-like’ cluster.

3. The ORGI would provide the layout maps of these earmarked HLBs to
M/O HUPA.

Page 41 of 74
4. The M/O HUPA would confirm the same after independent ground
verification of these earmarked HLBs, whose layout maps would be
provided by the ORGI.

Page 42 of 74
CHAPTER – V

TOWARDS AN URBAN INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

In the previous chapters, two main sets of issues have been addressed. The
first relates to obtaining a more complete set and comprehensive of estimates
of the slum population in India on a state-wise basis. This has been based
upon a critical appraisal of the slum census conducted by the ORGI and with
the use of appropriate statistical techniques for addressing the infirmities of the
census data. This exercise addressed the first three Terms of Reference
(TOR) of the Committee. The second exercise has been to develop a
methodology that can be used in the forthcoming 2010 house listing operations
for Census 2011, which would enable a better estimate of the actual slum
population without having to go through synthetic procedures of statistical
analysis. This addresses the fourth and fifth TOR of the Committee. However,
the Committee is also required to make recommendations on the following:

TOR VI – To guide the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation


in evolving sustainable and viable methodology for conducting slum and
other surveys between successive censuses.

TOR VII – To suggest measures to build a robust Urban Information


Management System on slums and urban poverty, housing and
construction duly taking into account the data collected by different
agencies like NSSO and RGI etc.

In so far as TOR VI is concerned, the main hurdle towards conducting slum and
other surveys by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation was the
absence of an appropriate frame for designing the surveys. With the data that
would be provided by the census as outlined in Chapter 4, the first step towards
developing a proper frame would be taken. However, before any a survey can
be carried out on the physical and social aspects of slums in India, it would be
necessary to obtain a more precise enumeration of the location of slums in the
country. The census data would only indicate the enumeration blocks which
could possibly contain smaller sized slums. The Ministry will need to follow up

Page 43 of 74
this information by conducting surveys in each of the indicated enumeration
blocks that would be indicated by the Census.

In carrying out this enumeration, the Ministry would need to use the definition of
slums that has been recommended by this Committee in Chapter 1 of this
Report. In other words, a slum would be defined as a continuous and compact
settlement of at least 20 households with a collection of poorly built tenements,
mostly of temporary nature, created usually with inadequate sanitary and
drinking water facilities in unhygienic conditions. Although this definition does
leave a certain amount of space for subjective evaluation, the Committee is of
the opinion that it is better to err on the side of greater inclusion than
inadvertent exclusion.

The above survey exercise will require a substantial amount of trained


manpower which will not be available either in the RGI office or in the NSSO. It
is, therefore, recommended that the Ministry may seek the assistance of
reputed Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) and, wherever possible,
of the State Government agencies to carry out the operation. The training
needs for the field investigators could be carried out either by the RGI
Office or the NSSO in collaboration with the officers of the Ministry.

At the conclusion of the above exercise, the Ministry should have available a
complete enumeration of all slum clusters in the country on a city and town
wise basis. Follow up surveys can be based on the frames so generated by
selecting samples appropriately designed for the purpose of the survey. Since
the NSSO has very strong technical expertise in survey design methodology,
their help could be sought in designing these surveys.

It should be noted, however, that these exercises will only provide information
on the number and distribution of slums for the year 2011. Since, on the one
hand, the pace of urbanization is expected to accelerate, it is likely to lead to a
proliferation of new slums; and, on the other hand, the Ministry’s Slum
Development Programme will take off thereby reducing the incidence of some
of the existing slums, the Master Frame generated will undergo significant

Page 44 of 74
change in the inter-censal years. It is necessary to evolve a methodology for
adding and deleting slum clusters from the master frame that would be
available from 2011. This process is by no means easy and the Committee
suggests the following procedures:

First, every State Government which receives funds from the Ministry for slum
development purposes under any of its programmes, should be required to
indicate exactly which slum clusters would be addressed and over what period
of time. At the end of the stipulated period, the Ministry would again have to
seek the assistance of NGOs to re-evaluate the status of the slum cluster in
order to continue or drop the cluster from its list of slums.

Second, the more difficult problem is on the inclusion of new slums into the
master frame. There are two main channels leading to an increase in the
slums in an urban area. The first arises from the absorption of peri-urban areas
within the urban boundary. The second arises from new settlements in vacant
spaces within the urban limits.

In so far as, the first is concerned, since the concept of census towns, by and
large, captures most of the peri-urban areas, a combination of information on
the expansion of urban boundaries by the State and the census data on census
towns would cover most of them. This would, however, require the
development of methodologies to geo-spatially match to the expanded urban
boundaries with the census information. The Ministry may work closely with
the RGI Office to develop such a system.

As far as new settlements within existing urban boundaries are concerned, the
only available instrument that exists in the country today is the Urban Frame
Survey (UFS) of the NSSO. In earlier years, the UFS was carried out over a
cycle of five years which would cover all statutory and census towns in the
country. Recently, however, it has been decided by the NSSO that this
exercise would be carried out over a two year period. The latest such exercise
is due to end in 2010. Thus with the new UFS data and the 2011 Census data,
it would be possible to develop a concordance between the two sets of
information. The Ministry should engage with the NSSO so that in each of its

Page 45 of 74
future UFS rounds the NSSO identifies UFS blocks which are likely to contain
slum clusters in the same manner as the census is doing in the 2010 house
listing operations. The details of this procedure and the definitions used have
been given in Chapter 4. This information can provide a fairly sensitive basis
for carrying out independent ground verification of the possible new slums
hopefully soon after they come into existence.

It is, of course, recognized by the Committee that the proposals made above do
not constitute a robust Urban Information Management System. However, in
view of the vastly different capacities and motivations of the different urban
local bodies of the country, it was not found possible to evolve a system based
only on administrative records. The proposal that has been made should be
seen as a stop gap arrangement which would provide at least the minimum
necessary information until such time as the capacities and capabilities of
urban local bodies are strengthened to a point where administrative records
can provide all the necessary information.

Page 46 of 74
CHAPTER – VI

SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE COMMITTEE

6.1 Estimation of Slum Population in the Country

The first priority of the Committee was to suggest suitable


adjustments/corrections to arrive at State-wise urban slum population for 1743
cities/towns in the country based on suitable statistical techniques. Further, in
order to get overall estimates of slum population in the country, the Committee
decided to include rest of the 3427 small towns of various States in this study.

The Committee entrusted Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute


(IASRI) the task of examining the City-wise slum population figures arrived at
by the RGI in two spells and develop State-wise and All India urban slum
population estimates duly correcting the anomalies observed by the use of
appropriate statistical tools, with following responsibilities:

1) Examine city wise slum population figures arrived by RGI in 2 spells


2) Suggest adjustments required to arrive at state wise urban slum
population and for the country as a whole.
3) Develop state wise and all India urban slum population estimates
statistically correcting the anomalies observed.
4) Projection on state wise and all India slum population as on 1-4-2010
based on the urban population project by RGI-Census 2001

Based on the Report on Estimation of Slum Population in the Country done by


IASRI the estimates for the slum population in every state of the country
is given in Chapter III.

6.2 Coverage for Slum Census 2011

The Slum Report based on Population Census 2001 published by RGI has
covered the 1743 cities/towns having more than 20,000 population in the

Page 47 of 74
Country out of total 5161 cities/towns as per Census 2001. RGI covers all the
notified slums during the census operations and the problem of under-
estimation occurs mainly in the case of under coverage of non-notified slums.
The Committee is of the view that for policy formulation purposes it is
absolutely essential to count the slum population even in cities having less than
20000 population.

For the purpose of planning for Rajiv Awas Yojana and Slum-free India it
would be necessary to count the population of slums in all statutory
towns in the country in the 2011.

6.3 Definition to be adopted

The Committee suggested to adopt a normative definition based on appropriate


indicators/checklists for the purpose of identification of slum areas and
enumeration of population of area with 20-25 HHs having slum like
characteristics in an Enumeration Block for in census 2011.

Based on the pilot studies carried out by the ORGI, the following criterion have
been identified:
i) Predominant roof material: any material other than concrete (RBC/
RCC)
ii) Availability of drinking water source: not within premises of the
census house
iii) Availability of latrine: not within premises of the census house
iv) Drainage facility: no drainage or open drainage

6.4 Methodology/Road Map for Slum Census 2011

The Committee recommended for a pilot study to estimate the slum population
of one city in 2001 will be undertaken by RGI by identifying and marking out the
contiguous area of 20-25 HHs in the layout maps of non-slum EB as slum area
using the definition suggested by the Committee, in order to test and validate
indicators/the slum characteristics identified.

Page 48 of 74
If validated, the indicators of slums would be used for the 2011 Census to
identify clusters of less than 60-70 households that may exist in a non slum EB
on the layout maps. The contiguous areas having 20-25 HHs having slum-like
characteristics in the EB of 600 populations may be identified as a slum using
the layout maps of the EBs released by RGI.

Once the layout maps are prepared after the identification of EB and house
listing operation, a contiguous area with 20-25 HHs having slum-like
characteristics would be counted as slum. These households and the
households in slum EBs would together give the slum population in the country.
By this method, the data on total urban slum household including slum
household in urban agglomerations as per Census definition would be available
in 2011 (latest 2012). This method would be employed in every Census so that
the Ministry would have periodic and comparable updates and growth trends.

The RGI would share the layout maps with the Ministry with marking of the
contiguous areas having slum like characteristics once the lay out maps is
released before the general census in 2011, for it to use for planning purpose
and as an aid to slum surveys.

The Ministry would take up with the Ministry of Home Affairs at the appropriate
time or consider providing financial support for the 2011 Census with
augmentation of budget under USHA scheme to meet the additional costs
required to be incurred for slum population enumeration in connection with the
2011 Census.

The Ministry would undertake to carry out the ground verification of slum
clusters within the identified EBs to finalise the Master Frame of slums in the
country.

6.5 Urban Information Management System on Slums

Every State Government which receives funds from the Ministry for slum
development purposes under any of its programmes, should be required to
indicate exactly which slum clusters would be addressed and over what period
of time. At the end of the stipulated period, the Ministry would re-evaluate the

Page 49 of 74
status of the slum cluster in order to continue or drop the cluster from its list of
slums.

Second, since the concept of census towns, by and large, captures most of
the peri-urban areas, a combination of information on the expansion of urban
boundaries by the States and the census data on census towns would cover
most slums arising out of urban expansion. This would, however, require the
development of methodologies to geo-spatially match the expanded urban
boundaries with the census information. The Ministry may work closely with
the RGI Office to develop such a system.

The Ministry should engage with the NSSO so that in each of its future UFS
rounds the NSSO identifies UFS blocks which are likely to contain slum
clusters in the same manner as the census is doing in the 2010 house listing
operations. The details of this procedure and the definitions used have been
given in Chapter 4.

Page 50 of 74
Annexure – I

No. – 28/4/2008-SE (NBO)


Government of India
Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation
**********************
Nirman Bhawan, New Delhi
Dated 4th July, 2008
Office Order

Subject: Setting up of a Committee to look into various aspects of Slum


Statistics/Census and guide conduct of Slum Census 2011.

---------------

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation has decided to


set up a Committee to look into various aspects of Slum Statistics/Census and
issues regarding the conduct of Slum Census 2011. The Committee shall
comprise of the Following:

1. Secretary, Ministry of Statistics & Programme Chairman


Implementation, Government of India

2. Registrar General of India or his representative Member

3. Joint Secretary (JNNURM), Ministry of Housing Member


and UPA, Government of India
4. Director General, NSSO, Ministry of Statistics & Member
Programme Implementation, Government of India
5. Adviser (HUD), Planning Commission, Member
Government of India
6. Secretary (UE & PA), Government of Uttar Member
Pradesh
7. Secretary (Urban Development), Government of Member
Bihar
8. Secretary (Urban Development), Government of Member
Andhra Pradesh
9. Secretary (Urban Development), Government of Member
Maharashtra
10. Secretary (Planning & Statistics), Government of Member
Madhya Pradesh
11. Director, NBO, Ministry of Housing and UPA, Convener
Government of India

The Chairman of the Committee may co-opt other officers/experts to facilitate


its deliberations.

Page 51 of 74
1. Terms of Reference for the Committee will be the following:

i) Examine City-wise slum population figures arrived at by the RGI in


two spells with respect to methodology and coverage.

ii) Suggest adjustments required, if any, to arrive at State-wise urban


slum population and for the Country as a whole.

iii) Develop State-wise and All India urban slum population estimates
duly correcting the anomalies observed, if any.

iv) Suggest changes/improvement in all aspects of slum census


including the definition, methodology, coverage etc.

v) Make suggestions to RGI regarding the effective conduct of Slum


Census 2011 covering definition, methodology and other aspects.

vi) Guide the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation in


evolving sustainable and viable methodology for conducting slum
and other surveys between successive censuses.

vii) Suggest measure to build a robust Urban Information Management


System on slums and urban poverty, housing and construction duly
taking into account the data collected by different agencies like
NSSO and RGI etc.

viii) Any other item considered relevant.

3. Secretarial assistance to the Committee shall be provided by National


Buildings Organisation, Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation.

4. This issues with the approval of Minister of State (I/C), Ministry of


Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation.

Sd/-
(Dr. P.K.Mohanty)
Joint Secretary & Mission Director (JNNURM)

To
Chairman and Other Members of the Committee
(as per the list attached)

Copy to:
1. PS to Hon’ble MHUPA
2. Sr. PPS to Secretary (HUPA)

Page 52 of 74
Annexure- II

MINUTES OF FIRST MEETING OF THE COMMITTEE TO LOOK INTO


VARIOUS ASPECTS OF SLUM STATISTICS/CENSUS AND GUIDE
CONDUCT OF SLUM CENSUS 2011 HELD UNDER THE CHAIRMANSHIP
OF SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME
IMPLEMENTATION, GOVERNMENT OF INDIA ON 23rd OCTOBER, 2008 IN
NEW DELHI

The first meeting of the committee set up under the Chairmanship of Secretary
(MOSPI), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation to look into various
aspects of Slum Statistics/Census and guide conduct of Slum Census 2011 was
held in Sardar Patel Bhawan, New Delhi on 23rd October, 2008 at 3.00 PM. The
list of participants is at Annexure.

2. At the outset, Dr. P.K.Mohanty, Joint Secretary (JNNURM), Ministry of


Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Government of India welcomed the
participants and made a detailed presentation on the background and objectives of
the committee under the chairmanship of Secretary (MOSPI) set up with the
approval of Hon’ble MHUPA to look into various aspects of Slum
Statistics/Census. Discussing the background for setting up the committee, he
outlined the following points:

a) In 2001 Census, detailed demographic data about slums across the country
was collected by the RGI. The coverage was restricted to cities/towns
having population of 50,000 or above in 1991 census.
b) Slum population was reported from only 640 cities/towns. RGI came out
with the publication of Slum Population of 640 cities/towns reporting slums
with a population of 50,000 or above as per 1991 census (phase I Report).
c) Based on the recommendations of Parliamentary Standing Committee, the
Ministry of Housing & UPA approached RGI to further identify the Slum
population in uncovered towns/cities. It was mutually decided to cover those
towns/cities with population of 20000-50000 as per 2001 census.

Page 53 of 74
d) Out of 1321 towns covered in phase II, 1103 reported having slums: 958
towns with 20,000 to 50,000 population and 145 with more than 50,000
population.
e) According to the RGI report (both phase I & II), the total slum population of
the country is 52.4 million. It constitutes 5.1% of the total population of the
country and 23.5 % of the population of the 1743 cities/towns reporting
slums.
f) Various organizations are using different definition of slums for the purpose
of collecting slum statistics in the country. The definition of slums also
varies from State to State.
g) According to two reports by the RGI covering all towns/cities with population
more than 20,000, the slum population is 52.4 million whereas the TCPO
has suggested 61.8 million as the estimated slum population in the year
2001.
h) As per the UN Population Report (by Mid-year 2001), India’s urban slum
population is estimated at 158.42 million.
i) The RGI report on slums has left out smaller States like Himachal Pradesh,
Sikkim, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram etc.
j) In many States, the district/town authorities have not reported all the
towns/enumeration blocks that needed enumeration.
k) In many States, in case of cities/towns covered under slum census 2001,
the district/town authorities have not considered non-notified slums where
there are land disputes. This has resulted in gross underestimation/under
coverage of slum population in the country. For example out of the total of
627 cities/towns in Uttar Pradesh, the slum census has covered only 84
towns.
l) Some of the major States like Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh,
Maharashtra, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh etc. have approached the Ministry of
Housing & UPA for fresh estimation of slum population in urban areas of the
States.

In this background the Ministry of HUPA has constituted the committee with the
following terms of reference/ agenda:

Page 54 of 74
i) Examine City-wise slum population figures arrived at by the RGI in
two spells with respect to methodology and coverage.
ii) Suggest adjustments required, if any, to arrive at State-wise urban
slum population and for the Country as a whole.
iii) Develop State-wise and All India urban slum population estimates
duly correcting the anomalies observed, if any.
iv) Suggest changes/improvements in all aspects of slum census
including the definition, methodology, coverage etc.
v) Make suggestions to RGI regarding the effective conduct of Slum
Census 2011 covering definition, methodology and other aspects.
vi) Guide the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation in
evolving sustainable and viable methodology for conducting slum
and other surveys between successive censuses.
vii) Suggest measures to build a robust Urban Information Management
System on slums and urban poverty, housing and construction duly
taking into account the data collected by different agencies like
NSSO and RGI etc.

3. JS(JNNURM) further informed that JNNURM, which is a flagship


programme of Government of India, was initiated with focus on urban renewal,
urban infrastructure development and basic services to the urban poor. The Sub-
Mission on Basic Services to the Urban Poor (BSUP) aims to provide integrated
services to the urban poor including slum-dwellers, in these 63 cities. These
include affordable housing and both basic physical and social amenities. Slum
development and basic services to the urban poor in these cities and towns are
taken up under the scheme of Integrated Housing & Slum Development
Programme (IHSDP). The Government of India has committed a sum of Rs.50,000
Crores as Grant to States and UTs under JNNURM and about Rs.20,000 Crores
out of this amount are meant for the slum upgradation, housing and basic
amenities to the poor.

Due to the non-availability of any authentic statistics on State-wise slum


population, the State wise fund allocation under JNNURM was done by the
Planning Commission on the basis of the TCPO estimates. The under-estimation
of slum population in States like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh etc. has resulted in less

Page 55 of 74
allocation of funds for slum development and basic services to the urban poor in
these States.

4. Secretary (MOSPI), in his opening remarks, observed that objectives of


this committee are confined to the needs of Ministry of HUPA which is the
nodal Ministry for implementation of various Plan and policies in the country to
address the concerns of slum development and provision of basic civic
amenities to the urban poor. Authentic database is a pre requirement to access
the magnitude of the problem and formulation of plans, policies, and schemes
so that potential beneficiaries are targeted in a meaningful manner.

He observed that the first focus of the committee should be to look into the
definition of Slums using some common yardsticks applicable for every State,
then the committee can suggest suitable adjustments/corrections to arrive at
State-wise urban slum population by statistically mapping the results of 1743
cities/towns to all the cities/towns.

5. Ms. Suman Parasar, Joint Director, RGI informed that for the first time
RGI came out with the reports on slums and the reports were generated from
the data collected for the population census 2001. She informed that RGI
follows the area concept for the purpose of defining slums unlike the UN
HABITAT which defines a slum based on household approach. The definition
adopted by RGI takes into account both the recognized slums and identified
slums. For the purpose of the slum report, the enumeration blocks were
identified as slum area based on the definition of slums adopted by RGI and
flexibility was maintained in identifying the slums depending on characteristic of
the specific city/town. She informed that the size of the enumeration blocks
were fixed as per the 2001 census and no new area was added for the purpose
of slum survey. The existing EBs were treated as slums where at least 75% of
the population was slum population. The slum reports brought out by RGI have
constraints of having backward census. Some of the smaller States particularly
the N-E States were left out since they were not fitting into the area
concept/approach adopted by RGI.

Page 56 of 74
6. Ms. Pushpa Subramanium, Secretary, Housing, Government of Andhra
Pradesh suggested to include the smaller towns for the purpose of Slum
Census. She observed that some of the smaller towns in A.P are covered
under the Integrated Housing and Slum Development Programme component
of JNNURM. She wanted to know if all the 5161 cities/towns are eligible for the
purpose of slum survey since some of them are too small to have any slum.
Joint Director, RGI clarified that out of the 5161 towns, only 3799 are statutory
towns and the rest are census towns. The census towns are identified only for
the purpose of collecting the population statistics and they cannot be treated as
towns for any other purposes. JS (JNNURM) observed that JNNURM covers
only those towns/cities which are having a Municipal body in place and as per
the guidelines only statutory towns are eligible for funding under JNNURM.

7. Shri Sitaram Kunte, Secretary, Housing, Government of Maharashtra


observed that slum report has under estimated the slum population in
cities/towns of Maharashtra. He cited the example of Kalyan and observed that
as per the RGI report only 2.89% of population of Kalyan is slum whereas
Kalyan is largely a slum town. He observed that there is gross under estimation
of slum population in the country and suggested for adopting certain indicators
for defining slums as done by the UN Global Report on Slums.

8. Shri (Dr.) D. K. Shukla, Special Secretary, Urban Development,


Government of Bihar informed that there are no notified slums in Bihar. He
observed that RGI report has not reflected actual slum population in Bihar and
it is grossly under estimated/ under represented. He suggested that the
committee may look into adjustments required to arrive at State-wise urban
slum population and special attention may be given to the under represented
States like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal etc. He also suggested for
adopting a definition which can be applicable to every State and we should not
depend on notification status of slums by the State Governments.

9. Shri D.S.Negi, Director, NBO observed that the approach and definition
should be flexible enough to take into account the different characteristics of
Hilly and Non-hilly States. The fact that some States which have not recognized
or identified the slums does not indicate that slums do not exist in those States.

Page 57 of 74
The Committee may look into adopting a uniform, systematic definition of slums
for the country, duly considering the regional characteristics. He suggested for
a mid-term estimation of State-wise Slum population based on NSSO and
Census figures and statistically correcting the anomalies observed.

10. Secretary (MOSPI) observed that area approach adopted by the RGI for
defining slums is perfectly alright and the committee should focus on defining
the slums and then estimate the slum population on comparable basis with
NSSO and RGI in order to implement the beneficiary oriented
programs/schemes of Ministry of HUPA. Joint Director, RGI informed that
suggestions of the committee in regard to slum data will be welcomed and the
same will be examined for their suitability/feasibility and placed before the
Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) of RGI. Secretary (MOSPI) requested the
representative from RGI and NSSO to provide soft copies of the data on Slum
and related reports to the Committee to examine the feasibility of statistical
corrections. The representatives from the RGI and the NSSO readily agreed to
provide all necessary support to the Committee.

11. After detailed deliberation, it was decided that the Committee will-

(i) examine the definitions adopted by different states and


different agencies;
(ii) suggest a definition of slums based on area approach duly
taking into consideration all aspects including the
methodology, coverage etc;
(iii) suggest adjustments required, if any, to arrive at State-wise
urban slum population and for the Country as a whole;
(iv) develop State-wise and All India urban slum population
estimates duly correcting the anomalies observed, if any.

12. The meeting concluded with a vote of thanks to the Chair.

Page 58 of 74
Annexure-III

MINUTES OF SECOND MEETING OF THE COMMITTEE TO LOOK INTO


VARIOUS ASPECTS OF SLUM STATISTICS/CENSUS AND GUIDE
CONDUCT OF SLUM CENSUS 2011 HELD UNDER THE CHAIRMANSHIP
OF SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME
IMPLEMENTATION, GOVERNMENT OF INDIA ON 1st DECEMBER, 2008 AT
SARDAL PATEL BHAWAN, NEW DELHI

The Second Meeting of the Committee set up under the Chairmanship of


Secretary (MOSPI), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation to
look into various aspects of Slum Statistics/Census and guide conduct of Slum
Census 2011 was held in Sardar Patel Bhawan, New Delhi on 1st November,
2008 at 4.00 PM. The list of participants is at Annexure.

2. Welcoming the participants, Joint Secretary & Mission Director (JNNURM)


Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation gave a brief account of the
decisions arrived at in the first meeting of the Committee and follow-up action
taken thereon. He made a detailed presentation on the definitions of slum area
adopted by different States before the Committee. He outlined the following
points:
a) The definition of slum area adopted by the State Governments is based
on Slum Acts of the respective States.
b) The definitions adopted by State Governments are based on legal
stipulations unlike the definitions adopted by RGI and NSSO. There are
discrepancies between the parameters adopted by State Governments,
RGI and NSSO.
c) Generally the State laws provide for a procedure to ‘notify’ or ‘recognize’
slums but the stipulation regarding the number of households in the
definition of slums, which is part of the Census and NSSO definitions, is
absent in the definitions adopted by State laws which do not place a limit
on the number of households for the purpose of identifying a slum.

Page 59 of 74
The definitions of slum areas adopted by Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Uttar
Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Andhra Pradesh and by NSSO and RGI were
discussed in detail. JS (JNNURM) pointed out that there is a distinct similarity
in the definitions adopted by these States. He also informed that the definition
adopted for the purpose of identification of slums through census/survey should
be based on objective parameters like structural quality of housing,
overcrowding, access to basic services and amenities etc. irrespective of the
number of households in one location.

3. Director General, National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO)


narrated the definition adopted in the 58th Round of Slum Survey. DG (NSSO)
informed that NSSO’s dfefinition of a slum area stipulated 20-30 households for
the purpose of survey to suit the operational feasibility of such survey and in
the case of RGI, 60-70 households were taken as the lower limit for the
identification of a slum area for operational reasons.

4. Joint Director, RGI informed that the definition adopted by RGI takes into
account all slums i.e. notified, non notified/recognized and identified slums. The
first and second criteria adopted by RGI takes into account the notified/non-
notified/recognized slums by the State Government/Local Authority concerned
and the third criterion for identification of slum area is related to compact areas
of at least 300 population or about 60-70 households of poorly built congested
tenements, in unhygienic environment usually with inadequate infrastructure
and lacking in proper sanitary and drinking water facilities. She informed that
RGI identifies the slums using the 3rd criteria for areas which are not notified or
recognized as slums by the State Government/Local Authority concerned and
all the 3 criteria are simultaneously taken into account for identification of a
slum area. However, citing the example of slum census in Delhi where even an
area with limited number of households was also considered as slum area, she
informed that in practice areas with less than 60-70 households have also been
identified as slums in Census 2001. She argued that keeping in view the
enormous work involved in the census operation it may not be feasible to
reduce the criteria of 60-70 household to 20-30 households.

Page 60 of 74
5. Secretary (MOSPI), in his opening remarks, observed that the primary
objective of the Committee is to devise a common definition of slum area which
caters to the needs of the Ministry of HUPA for the purpose of estimating the
slum population in the country in connection with proper targeting under
schemes like JNNURM. While formulating the definition, we must take into
account the issues of States which are relatively less dynamic in notifying slum
so that the State-wise urban slum population arrived at must be comparable
among the States. The Chairman observed that whatever the definition
adopted, the main objective should be to get the actual urban slum population
prevailing in the country estimated on the basis of objective parameters that do
not depend on the approach of any single State or agency. He also suggested
that RGO, NSSO and the Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation
should have broadly similar approaches.

6. Principal Secretary, Planning, Government of Madhya Pradesh made a


suggestion for evolving a comprehensive definition which reflects the changing
demographic conditions in the States. He observed that the definitions of slums
under Slum Acts / State directives, framed in the past do not suit the current
situation. Legally defined slums are likely to provide underestimates of slum
population which may not reflect the ground realities. The slums notified in the
past continue to remain so even though the surrounding areas have become
well developed areas. He stressed on the need for a more practical definition of
slum which would reflect the actual reality in cities and towns in the States/
Country based on factors like access to housing and basic amenities.

7. Secretary (MOSPI) observed that the slum definition adopted by States


have their own purpose and which may not ideally suit any census or survey of
slums. He however, observed that the definition of slums should be operative
and not an ideal one and that the same should enable comparability of data
across States. JS & Mission Director (JNNURM), MoHUPA observed that slum
population results revealed by the 2001 census are not satisfactory or
acceptable to many states and this fact cannot be ignored. He suggested that a
framework for identification of slums may be fixed before starting the house
listing operation.

Page 61 of 74
8. Joint Director, RGI informed that RGI is going to use the GIS mapping for
identification of the slum areas in all the State capital cities in the forthcoming
2011 census. She suggested that since the census operations are carried out
by RGI with the help of State Government officials, there is an urgent need to
sensitise the State officials regarding the importance of identification of slum
areas in the States so that the census results could reflect the true picture. JS
& Mission Director (JNNURM), MoHUPA agreed to the suggestions made by
Joint Director (RGI) and advocated for capacity building programmes for the
State Government officials regarding census operations in general and slum
census in particular. He requested the Joint Director (RGI) to prepare the
modalities and guidelines for such training and assured cooperation of Ministry
of Housing and UPA in this regard.

9. Secretary (MOSPI) observed that that the area approach adopted by the
RGI for identification of slums is perfectly alright. To eliminate the element of
subjectivity in the definition, we may prepare a check list for identification of
slum area. He suggested looking into aspects of quality of housing and
availability of some basic amenities in the enumeration blocks considered as
slum area for a city by RGI in the Slum census 2001 and in the enumeration
block considered as slum area in a city by NSSO in the 58th round slum
survey. He suggested DG, NSSO and JD, RGI to select one or two common
cities on experimental basis and study the aspects of housing quality and
availability of some basic amenities so that the data can be compared and
based on that appropriate indicators/checklists for identification of slum areas
can be formulated.

10. After detailed deliberation, the following decisions were taken:

(i) DG, NSSO and JD, RGI to select one or two common cities/towns for
study of housing and availability of basic amenities like water, drainage,
electricity etc. in the enumeration blocks considered as slum area in Slum
Census 2001 and 58th round slum survey respectively: DG, NSSO and JD,
RGI may come up with parameters/ indicators or proxies thereof in this
regard. Some suggested parameters/indicators are:

Page 62 of 74
a) Housing structure.

b) Availability of drinking water within premises.

c) Availability of sanitation facility like toilet

d) Density (total number of persons in the household/ number of rooms)

e) Access to electricity

(ii) Ministry of HUPA to coordinate between RGI and NSSO and compile
the results of the study for consideration of the Committee in the next
meeting.

11. The meeting concluded with a vote of thanks to the Chair.

Page 63 of 74
Annexure- IV

MINUTES OF THE THIRD MEETING OF THE COMMITTEE TO LOOK INTO


VARIOUS ASPECTS OF SLUM STATISTICS/CENSUS AND GUIDE
CONDUCT OF SLUM CENSUS 2011 HELD UNDER THE CHAIRMANSHIP
OF SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME
IMPLEMENTATION, GOVERNMENT OF INDIA ON 19th MAY, 2009 AT
S.P.BHAWAN, NEW DELHI

The third meeting of the Committee set up under the Chairmanship of


Secretary (MOSPI), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation to
look into various aspects of Slum Statistics/Census and guide the conduct of
Slum Census 2011 was held in Sardar Patel Bhawan, New Delhi on 19th May,
2009 at 4.00 PM. The list of participants is at Annexure-l.

2. Welcoming the participants, Director (NBO), Ministry of Housing and Urban


Poverty Alleviation gave a brief account of the decisions arrived at in previous
two meeting, follow-up action taken thereon and agenda of the current meeting.
He informed that it was decided in the last meeting that NSSO and RGI would
select one or two common cities/towns for study of housing and availability of
basic amenities like water, drainage, electricity etc. in the enumeration blocks
considered as slum area in Slum Census 2001 and 58th NSSO round slum
survey respectively. Some suggested parameters/indicators include:

a) Housing structure

b) Availability of drinking water within premises.

c) Availability of sanitation facility like toilet

d) Density (total number of persons in the household/ number of rooms)

Director (NBO) informed that the cities of Delhi and Pune were selected for the
above mentioned study and requested the representatives from RGI and NSSO
to present their reports before the Committee.

Page 64 of 74
3. Assitant RGI, O/o RGI and Census Commissioner presented the finding
of their study on “availability of the basic amenities in Delhi and Pune” based on
Census 2001 results before the Committee. The inference from RGI study
suggests that a combination of parameters such as
– non-permanency of residential structures
– households with no facility of drinking water within premises
– households with no latrine facility
– households with open drainage, and
– population density

along with the criteria of compactness of households may perhaps be helpful in


defining slums more objectively.

4. Director, National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) also presented


the finding of their study on “availability of the basic amenities in Delhi and
Pune” based on survey results of “Condition of Urban Slums” (NSSO 58th
Round) before the Committee.

5. Secretary (MOSPI), in his opening remarks, observed that the main


objective of the Committee is to eliminate the element of subjectivity in the
definition for identifying a slum area and suggested that we may prepare a
check list for identification of slum area. He observed that the Committee has to
suggest a common definition of slum which is acceptable to Central and State
Governments so that the agencies/authorities who are engaged in the
collection of slum data are guided by standard definition. Slum population data
so collected would reflect the true picture in the country and will be
compatible/comparable. He stressed that whatever the definition that is
adopted, the main objective should be get an accurate and comparable
estimates of slum population in the country.

6. On a query by Secretary (MOSPI) regarding procedure for notifying


slums, Secretary (Housing), Govt. of Maharashtra informed that slums on
private land are generally notified in order to enable entry by Government
agencies for providing services to improve the quality of life and for making
available basic civic amenities to the slum dwellers. In the State of
Maharashtra, only slums on private land are notified so as to avoid the
unwanted litigations in providing the public utility services in slums located on
private land.

Page 65 of 74
7. Secretary (MOSPI) reiterated that the Committee should find out few
common characteristics in order to evolve a comprehensive definition of slums.
He suggested some of the parameters for identifying slums such as: a) at least
20% of houses in slum should be katcha/non-permanent houses; b)
settlements having no closed drainage system etc.

8. JS (JNNURM), M/o HUPA observed that the criterion for identification of


slum area by RGI takes into consideration the compact areas of at least 300
population or about 60-70 households, which is on a higher side. In many
States/smaller towns, slums may be found having 20-25 households. He also
observed that the definition adopted for the purpose of identification of slums
through census/survey should be based on objective parameters like structural
quality of housing, overcrowding, access to basic services and amenities etc.
irrespective of the number of households in one location. He referred to the
definitions of slums adopted by several states which center around the above
three parameters. Additional RGI explained that keeping in view the enormous
work involved in the census operation it may not be feasible to reduce the
criteria of 60-70 household to 20-25 households. Census identifies an
enumeration block (EB) as “slum EB” based on household criteria and due to
administrative, logistics and financial limitations an EB cannot be less than 60-
70 HHs/300 population. He informed that RGI is going to use GIS mapping for
identification of the slum areas in all the State capital cities in the forthcoming
2011 census. He suggested that a framework for identification of slums may be
fixed before starting the house listing operation.

9. Special Secretary, Housing & U.D, Government of Bihar enquired


whether the city maps available with every city administration can be used for
mapping the census enumeration block and for identifying a slum area
irrespective of the number of household/population. Additional RGI informed
that for census operations, RGI creates a notional map of the city in order to
cover every household in the area without any scaling and it is quite different
from the city map. Hence the linking of census map with the city map cannot be
done easily in the present circumstances. However, with digitized maps, this
could be possible.

Page 66 of 74
10. Chairman & Secretary, MoSPI observed that that the area approach
adopted by the RGI for identification of slums is perfectly all right, and it is not
practically possible for them to reduce the size of enumeration blocks for the
purpose of identifying a slum EB. He observed that the committee may look
into the possibility of suggesting RGI to flag an EB where the surveyor feels
that a sufficient part of the area qualifies as a slum based on the defined
parameters but does not meet the criteria of 60-70 HHs. Although this would
involve a degree of subjectivity, it was unavoidable under the circumstances.
He suggested the RGI to explore the possibility of instructing census
enumerators to identify areas having less than 60-70 HHs (i.e. areas having
more than 20-25 but less than 60-70 HHs) possessing slum-like characteristics
while identifying the EBs during house listing and flagging these EBs.
Census/Ministry of Housing & UPA may then take up necessary survey in
fagged off areas to arrive at the slum population in the country. The Committee
members agreed to this suggestion made by the Chairman. Additional RGI
informed that he will discuss with the concerned officers and field staff of RGI
and give the necessary feedback to the Chairman on this issue.

11. JS (JNNURM), Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation


observed that the slum population available from Census 2001 is an under-
estimate for some of the States and requested Chairman to suggest some
methodology to arrive at a more reasonable estimate of slum population from
the Census 2001 result. The Chairman suggested to go in for small area
estimation for suitable adjustments/corrections to arrive at State-wise urban
slum population by statistically mapping the results of the NSSO 58th Round
and/or the 1743 cities/towns (for which 2001 slum census data) are available to
all the cities/towns. He advised the Ministry of HUPA for taking the guidance of
Dr.U.C.Sud, Head (A) Sample Survey, Indian Agricultural Statistics Research
Institute (IASRI), New Delhi. The Committee unanimously agreed to assign the
task to IASRI, New Delhi. JS (JNNURM) informed that the Ministry will take the
necessary action in the matter and will assign the study to IASRI. The
Chairman observed that the results of the study will be discussed in the
Committee and it will be included in the report of the Committee to be
submitted to the Ministry of HUPA.

12. The meeting ended with vote of thanks to the chair.

Page 67 of 74
Annexure-V

Minutes of the Meeting held on on 4th November 2009 under the


Chairpersonship of Hon'ble M (HUPA & T) regarding Slum Population
Enumeration in the forthcoming Census 2011

A meeting under the Chairpersonship of Hon’ble M (HUPA & T) was held on


4th November, 2009 at Nirman Bhawan, New Delhi to discuss the issues relating to
slum population enumeration in the forthcoming census operation so that the 2011
Census counts slum population in a proper manner. The list of participants is at
Annexure-I.

2. Welcoming the participants, Joint Secretary & Mission Director (JNNURM)


Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation gave a brief account of the slum
population estimates for 1743 cities having above 20,000 or more population brought
out by the RGI in their two reports. He outlined the difficulties faced by the Ministry of
HUPA and other Ministries while using the slum population data arrived at by RGI in
two spells, first for 640 towns with population of more than 50,000 and then for 1103
towns, with population between 20,000 and 50,000.. He mentioned that various
organizations, e.g. RGI and NSSO are using different definitions of slums for the
purpose of collecting slum statistics in the country. The definition of slums also varies
from State to State. According to two reports by the RGI covering all towns/cities with
population more than 20,000, the slum population is 52.4 million whereas the TCPO
has suggested 61.8 million as the estimated slum population in the year 2001. As
per the UN Population Report (by Mid-year 2001), India’s urban slum population is
estimated at 158.42 million. The RGI report on slums has left out smaller States like
Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram etc. In many States, the
district/town authorities have not reported all the towns/enumeration blocks that
needed enumeration.

3. Secretary (HUPA) in her opening remarks stated that authentic database is a


pre-requirement to assess the magnitude of the problem and undertake formulation
of plans, policies and schemes so that potential beneficiaries are targeted in a

Page 68 of 74
meaningful manner. She observed that on the basis of existing methodology used by
Census, there is a gross under-estimation of slum population in the country and the
slum estimates do not reflect the real picture on slum population in many States.
This has led to faulty planning and under-estimation of financial requirements in the
absence of a true picture on magnitude of the problem. She informed that the
Government has announced Rajiv Awas Yojana for the slum dwellers and the urban
poor in an effort to create a Slum-free India. Developing a robust database on slums
is critical for implementation of the proposed Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY). She
mentioned that covering the Cities/towns having more than 50,000 population for the
slum survey in 2011, as proposed by RGI will lead to the same criticism and would
neither satisfy planning nor the statistical needs. The problems would remain the
same which we are facing with the 2001 estimates of slum population. She
suggested RGI to work closely with the Ministry in order to arrive at an authentic
estimate of slum population in 2011 census to facilitate a definitive understanding of
the size of the problem and its distribution across cities.

4. Secretary (HUPA) emphasized the necessity for change in the slum definition
adopted by RGI in 2001 Census. RGI is counting an Enumeration Block (EB) as
slum area only when in that area at least 300 population or about 60-70 households
of poorly built congested tenements exist. This definition will leave pockets or EB
with less than 60 households having slum like features. In order to have a realistic
count on the slum population the methodology and coverage needs change in the
forthcoming census 2011.

5. Secretary, Ministry of Statistics and PI referred to the two-dimensions of


issues relating to slums in the country i) Correction in slum locations by way of
interventions and ii) Prevention of occurrence of slums especially in small and
medium towns. He emphasized that for policy formulation purposes it is absolutely
essential to count the slum population even in cities having less than 20000
population. He mentioned that RGI covers all the notified slums during the census
operations and the problem of under-estimation occurs mainly in the case of under
coverage of non-notified slums. He suggested that urban slum frame may be fixed
before starting the house listing operations for 2011 Census.

Page 69 of 74
6. RGI & Census Commissioner observed that for the first time RGI came out
with the reports on slums and the reports were generated from the data collected for
the population census 2001 i.e. this constituted an offshoot of the population census.
Elaborating on the methodology used for census operations in the country, he
informed that in course of general Census operations, under the Census Act, the
Municipal Commissioner/Executive Officer is authorized to earmark/identify an area
as slum area. Separate records are maintained for these slum areas and the
enumerator appointed by RGI strictly follows the identification done by the Municipal
Authority for marking any area as slum or non-slum and has no discretion to use his
own judgment for identification of slums. His/her job is restricted to only count the
population. Explaining the reasons for under-coverage of slum areas especially in
cases of non-notified slums which ultimately results in under-reporting of slum
population of a city/town, he stated that the past experience has shown that the
Municipal Authorities are generally reluctant to declare an area as slum for census
purpose due to the fact that once a non-notified slum is declared as slum by the
municipality the problems of regularization and other legal/extra legal problems crop
in. Thus, there is an inherent tendency not to declare an area with slum-like features
as a ‘slum’. He stated that under-estimation of slum population in the last census
may be mainly attributed to the fact that municipalities refused to recognize/identify
the non-notified slums exiting within their municipality limits which led to their
enumeration as a part of non-slum population of the town/city.

7. Hon’ble Minister for Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation and Tourism
observed that the criterion for identification of slum area by RGI takes into
consideration the compact areas of at least 300 population or about 60-70
households, which is on a higher side. In many States/smaller towns, slums may be
found having 20-25 households. She observed that slum population results revealed
by the 2001 census are not satisfactory or acceptable to many states and this fact
cannot be ignored. She observed that maximum numbers of slums are on non-
notified area and suggested to explore a new methodology to capture the population
of non-notified slum pockets and pockets having slum-like features. She mentioned
the importance and necessity of reliable slum estimates for the Ministry in its policy
implementation especially in implementing the agenda of inclusive growth of the

Page 70 of 74
government. She stressed that whatever the approach that is adopted, the main
objective should be get timely, accurate and comparable estimates of slum
population in the country so that the 12th Plan programmes or allocations would not
be based on the under estimated slum population. M (HUPA & T) explained the
vision of Slum-free India that requires Slum-free States and Slum-free Cities. This
vision can be achieved only on the foundations of sound plans based on sound data.
Regarding the enumeration of population of non-notified slums or areas with slum-
like characteristics the Minister suggested that RGI may consider enumeration of
population of slums as well as extra-legal settlements with slum-like conditions
calling them slum-like settlements or by any other name.

8. RGI & Census Commissioner explained that keeping in view the enormous
work involved in the census operation it may not be feasible to reduce the criteria of
60-70 household to 20-25 households. Census identifies an enumeration block (EB)
as “slum EB” based on household criteria/identification by the Municipal Authorities
and due to administrative, logistics and financial limitations an EB cannot be less
than 60-70 HHs/300 population. He also explained the procedure followed by RGI
like forming an enumeration blocks, layout maps and house listing for census
operations in detail. He informed that RGI has undertaken the exercise of preparing
GIS mapping for all the State capital cities in the forthcoming 2011 census. The RGI
also referred to the enormous costs to be incurred on enumeration if the size of an
enumeration is reduced to count population of habitations with 20-25 households
having slum-like characteristics.

9. Director (NBO) & OSD (JNNURM) informed that the Ministry has set up a
Committee under the Chairmanship of Secretary (MOSPI) to look into various
aspects of slum statistics/census. The Committee has entrusted Indian Agricultural
Statistics Research Institute (IASRI) the task of examining the City-wise slum
population figures arrived at by the RGI in two spells and develop State-wise and All
India urban slum population estimates duly correcting the anomalies observed by the
use of appropriate statistical tools. Director (JNNURM) observed that ‘census’ towns
are defined by RGI exclusively for census operation in addition to statutory towns
and on the similar pattern they can also identify slum areas based on some pre-

Page 71 of 74
defined characteristics for the purpose of slum population estimation calling them
‘census’ slums. MD/JS (JNNURM) pointed out that under the present methodology
adopted by RGI, if a slum is divided between two EBs, there is likelihood that the
census counts of slum population will not include such slum.

10. Secretary (MOSPI) observed that the RGI may identify an area as slum based
on a normative definition taking into account some defined parameters i.e. area
possessing slum like characteristics while identifying the Enumeration Blocks (EBs)
during house listing operation. The contiguous areas having 20-25 HHs having slum-
like characteristics in the EB of 600 populations may be identified as a slum using
the layout maps of the EBs released by RGI. He observed that the Committee
working under his guidance may suggest a normative definition to identify a slum
based on a check list to eliminate the element of subjectivity in the definition for
identifying a slum area. In this regard, it was decided that the RGI, who has both
municipal and census administration experience, would send a paper to Secretary,
MOSPI.

11. After detailed deliberations, the following decisions were taken:

i) For the purpose of planning for Rajiv Awas Yojana and Slum-free India it
would be necessary to count the population of slums in all statutory towns
in the country in the 2011.

ii) The Committee working under the chairmanship of Secretary (MOSPI)


would suggest a normative definition based on appropriate
indicators/checklists for the purpose of identification of slum areas and
enumeration of population of area with 20-25 HHs having slum like
characteristics in an Enumeration Block for in census 2011.

iii) A pilot study to estimate the slum population of Agra in 2001 will be
undertaken by RGI by identifying and marking out the contiguous area of
20-25 HHs in the layout maps of non-slum EB of Agra as slum area using
the definition suggested by the Committee, in order to test and validate
indicators/the slum characteristics identified.

Page 72 of 74
iv) If validated, the indicators of slums would be used for the 2011
Census to identify clusters of less than 60-70 households that may
exist in a non slum EB on the layout maps. Once the layout maps are
prepared after the identification of EB and house listing operation, a
contiguous area with 20-25 HHs having slum-like characteristics would be
counted as slum. These households and the households in slum EBs
would together give the slum population in the country. By this
method, the data on total urban slum household including slum
household in urban agglomerations as per Census definition would
be available in 2011 (latest 2012). This method would be employed in
every Census so that the Ministry would have periodic and
comparable updates and growth trends.

v) The RGI would share the layout maps with the Ministry with marking of
the contiguous areas having slum like characteristics once the lay out
maps is released before the general census in 2011, for it to use for
planning purpose and as an aid to slum surveys.

vi) The Ministry and RGI would work together in the GIS mapping of slums
undertaken as a part of preparatory exercise for implementation of Rajiv
Awas Yojana. RGI would render necessary assistance as it had used the
GIS technology fair extensively already.

vii) The Ministry would take up with the Ministry of Home Affairs at the
appropriate time or consider providing financial support for the 2011
Census with augmentation of budget under USHA scheme to meet the
additional costs required to be incurred for slum population enumeration in
connection with the 2011 Census based on the methodology suggested by
the Committee under the Chairmanship of Secretary (MOSPI).

The meeting ended with vote of thanks to the chair.

Page 73 of 74
List of Participants
PPhone/
Name & Designation Address
Mobile No
1 Hon’ble Minister (HUPA & T) In Chair
2 Ms.Kiran Dhingra, Secretary (HUPA) MoHUPA
3. Dr Pronab Sen, Secretary Min of Statistics & Prog. Implementation
23742150

4 Dr. C. Chandramouli, RGI R.G.I, Mansingh Rd 23383761


New Delhi
5 Dr. P.K.Mohanty, JS (JNNURM) JNNURM, MoHUPA 23061420
6 Shri S.K.Singh, JS (H) MoHUPA
7 Shri S.K.Das, DG CSO Min of Statistics & Prog. Implementation
9312000302

8 Shri S.C.Seddey DG NSSO Min of Statistics & Prog. Implem 9350867064

9 Shri .R.C.Sethi Addl.RGI R.G.I, Mansingh Rd 9810685544

10 Shri D.S.Negi, Director NBO 23061692


11 Shri Vivek Nangia Director (JNNURM) 23062279
12 Shri Mr.R.V.V.Durgaprasad D.D R.G I office, Mansing Rd 9810541228
New Delhi
13 Shri A.K.Mishra, Dy Director NBO, MoHUPA 23061303

14. Shri Gopal Prasad Dy Director NBO, MoHUPA 23061174

15. Shri. Umraw Singh Dy Director NBO, MoHUPA 23360893

16 Shri V.Ethiraj R.O NBO, MoHUPA 23061174

17 Shri Praveen Kumar R.O NBO, MoHUPA 23061174

Page 74 of 74

You might also like